What Glenn Writes

There are six verses in Genesis I find amazing in what they reveal about our relationship with God. We find a sense of what God desires, an inappropriate response, and what happens when we choose incorrectly. Let’s take a look at Genesis 3:8-13:

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman you put here with me– she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

What I always find amazing is the first verse in this passage, where they… “heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden! Can you imagine a relationship where God comes searching for you in the cool of the day to go for a walk in the garden? This verse is so often overlooked, but I always catch myself stopping here and trying to imagine this awesome scene.

In the next verse, God asks Adam where he is… as if God doesn’t already know? At this point, God already knows what happened, how the serpent deceived them, and of their disobedience, but He is looking for the man to confess his wrongdoing. Will Adam be the first person to “man-up” and accept his responsibility?

But what does Adam do? He blames God, then blames the Eve, who in turn blames the serpent. The previous passages tell us Eve gave Adam, who was with her, the fruit to eat. Adam was with Eve when the devious serpent convinced her to eat of the forbidden fruit. At any point in these passages, Adam could have owned up to the man he was and stopped the disobedience immediately, but instead he went along with it. When confronted, he blames others for what he did or failed to do. 

When I read these passages, I wonder what would have happened if Adam would have resisted the temptation to eat the fruit. Would Eve have been an outcast? Would she walked around clothed while Adam remained naked? Would Adam have lost another rib?

I also wonder what would have happened if Adam would have accepted the responsibility for his sin. He was, after all, the ruler of the world at that moment. What if Adam would have confessed what he did wrong, repented, and turned to God like we see David do so many times when he messed up?

These six verses illustrate God’s desire to have a relationship with us, to walk with us in the cool of the day, and have chats. We also find an example of an inappropriate response to sin, hiding in fear and blaming others. And, we learn our wrong choices will eventually be found out, for God knows everything there is to know and nothing is hidden from Him.

I am grateful for Adam’s example of how not to respond. I recognize his tendency in my own life to hide my sin, cover it up, and how natural it is to blame someone else for something I should man-up and admit responsibility.

Even in their disobedience and confusion, we see God covering up man’s sin with an animal sacrifice. This establishes the rule where every sin must have a sacrifice for atonement. Then, four to six thousand years later, God does something truly amazing by wiping out man’s sin with the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus Christ.

When we consider Jesus Christ on the Cross, was it just an atonement for our sin? It was part of it.

Was the purpose of His life and death just to make restitution for our sins? It was part of it.

Was His resurrection just for our own resurrection so we may live forever? It was part of it.

If we look narrowly at the Cross and resurrection, we are really still hiding in the bushes as the Lord walks in the garden in the cool of the day. What was the purpose for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? It was for you. It was for God. It was for your relationship with God.

The primary purpose for Jesus Christ – His primary focus and mission – was to reconcile us to God, or to re-establish our relationship with Him.

Are there areas in your life where you are still hiding in the garden? Are there problems in your life for which you are blaming others? Isn’t it time to stop hiding, confess your responsibility, and find God again in that area of your life?

Stop hiding; it is time for that walk.

Glenn Sasscer

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