Yesterday I shared this quote from Tremper Longmen from his commentary .

“The story of Adam, though does expose the nature of sin. What is sin at its heart? Sin is rebellion against God, a refusal to accept him as Lord. Sin places oneself in the position of God, and like Adam and Eve, humans substitute their own ideas of right and wrong in the place of God’s definition. Sin rejects God… The account of Adam and Eve is a way of telling us what we would all do (and indeed we all do) if we were in their place.”

If this was the end of the story, we would all be a hurting case and it would be a short story, only 2.1 chapters and it probably wouldn’t be called the Bible. It would be called the Epic Failure of Humanity.

Thankfully the story continues. Now notice this dialogue that takes place.

Read Genesis 3:7-13- 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Don’t get me wrong. I for sure would not have wanted to be there when this took place. But there is part of me that would have liked to be a fly on a tree and see how this took place.
Think about it? How would you perceive God responding?

Within two short chapters his created beings brought chaos back to his ordered world. Yet, what do we see? We see God’s proximity and we see God asking questions.

Before Adam and Eve ever repent, God pursues them, out of his great love.

I just want to highlight the wonder of this statement, “heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day… Oh what that must have sounded like.
Some translations instead of “the cool of the day” have “the wind of the day”, which is also translated ruakh, wind, breath, spirit. God is still making parallels to hovering over the chaos in ch. 1, breath within humanity in ch. 2, and the spirit in ch. 1. God’s presence, his Spirit, His breath, was in close proximity to Adam and Eve.

Let’s take it one step further, draw your attention to God walking… What’s amazing is that word, “walking” can actually be translated as a “walkabout”. Like our friends down under. God was on a “walkabout” or a stroll through the garden.

We also see that in chapter 5 with Enoch, chapter 6 with Noah, chapter 17 with Abraham, Leviticus 26 with the people of Israel. And I would say we see it indirectly with Jesus was he walked the land with the disciples and crowds.

All of that to say, God desires to walk with his people. God desires to stroll through life with you, he desires to have his proximity close to you. That’s why I am usually asking the question, “God never left you, but did you pull away from him?” God desires to be in close proximity to you, despite your chaos.

Which is evident in God’s first question. Remember, because of sin, Adam and Eve ran away in fear, hid, and put fig leaves on to cover their nakedness/shame. God’s first question is, “where are you?” It wasn’t because he didn’t know, it was a question for them. God is saying, I know where I am, but where are you? Why are you not in close proximity to me.
Which is a wonderful grounding question. Throughout your days and weeks, you should ask yourself, “where am I? Have I wandered from God’s proximity? Have I believed something that has caused me to pull away from God?” Where are you?

Second question God asks, “Who told you that you were naked?” Almost like, God knew they were naked, innocent, pure, even though they didn’t know. But now they are seeing life completely different.

What voice are you listening to? Another grounding question, “who’s voice are you listening to? Who told you, whatever it is that you believe?” Was it God’s voice? Or the chaos monster? Is it the voice of truth? Or a voice of doubt, deception, accusation?

Then the last question God asks, "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Essentially, what have you done? What are your actions, what have you “taken”?

How did Adam respond? He blamed God first (this woman you gave me) and then Eve (she gave it to me to eat). How did Eve respond? Blamed the serpent. In their pride, in their fear, in their sin and chaos they blamed.

Sin’s response was to run away in fear, hide, and blame. Chaos creates fear, hiding, and blaming. How real is that in your life?

How often are you in fear, uncertainty, anxiousness, maybe because of sin, but maybe because we are trying to be God, or we fear God is holding out on us or that we don’t trust God.

How often do we hide? Hide in our careers, hide in our hobbies, hide in our false selves, because we’ve believed a lie, the accuser is slithering through our minds and relationships.
How often do we NOT take responsibility for our life, stay in our pride, God it’s your fault? It’s the woman you put me with? It’s my boss, my friend, that person.

Today, I want you to reflect on so many of those questions. Pick one, pick them all. Take your tine with them. But first, I want you to sit with this song, Reckless Love.