Have you ever wondered what it was like to be Adam or Eve, to walk with God in the Garden? Or how about Moses when God would come down and talk with him as one would with a friend? Or maybe you could fit better in Abraham’s sandals and talk with God in the form of a man, but you knew this was no ordinary man but God in a pre-incarnate visit to earth.
Under the Old Covenant, not many people could get close to God. Not after sin entered the world and the whole world, people, land, animals, everything fell under a curse. And not many people wanted a close relationship with God after that. Sinful hearts have that problem. We can’t seek God unless He calls us to seek Him. Even then, we often ignore His call.
Before Jesus came, people couldn’t just approach God. His holiness was something we can’t imagine today. Maybe we can glimpse what it could look like when we gaze at the blazing glory of the heavens, but I really don’t think we have a clue.
The disciples could walk with God, but I’m not sure they realized that Jesus truly was who He said He was until after He rose from the dead. If the people had realized that Jesus was more than just a man, they would not have killed the Lord of Glory.
But we’re not living in the Old Covenant and Jesus sits at the right hand of God in heaven now. We can’t walk the streets of Nazareth and learn at His side today.
Does that mean we can’t walk with God? What does walking with God even mean?
When I was growing up my dad had a favorite song. It was his mom’s favorite and my mom’s favorite too, and since we sang hymns in church (and at home), I learned the words and sang them with Daddy his last few days on earth. The song is In The Garden and the words that stand out to me are:
I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses. And He walks with me and He talks with me. And He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.
Walking with God is more than a song though. What do you do when you want to talk to someone? You meet for coffee or lunch or you go for a hike together. You spend time getting to know them. You are in a relationship.
And I think that’s what Adam and Eve had before they broke the world. It’s what Moses had when he finally accepted God’s call on his life. It’s what Abraham had when he dropped everything and took his family on a journey to wherever God planned to lead him. All of these people and so many more in Scripture and throughout history walked with God because they had a relationship WITH God.
I think we’ve lost that today. Today we think of God as any number of things. Maybe there is more than one god. Maybe God started the world with a big bang and then left us to figure life out on our own. Maybe God is there for me to run to when I have problems and He’ll fix them for me. Maybe if I do everything right in my life, God will reward me. Maybe God exists but I don’t see Him doing anything that I ask of Him, so maybe I don’t really need Him…
And we have no idea what it means to know the One who created us from the beginning. The One who knows us inside out. The One who knows a word before it forms on our tongues. The God who spoke universes into existence with a word. The God who didn’t need us, could just as easily have started over when Adam and Eve broke His world, but decided on a plan to redeem it instead.
We don’t walk with God unless we want to know God. God wants us to know Him. They say it’s all in who you know, and in this case, that could not be a truer statement. We can have all the right answers to life’s many questions. We can do all the things we are taught in church. We can even read our Bibles and pray and still not grasp the meaning of a real relationship WITH God.
Walking with God is something I’m still learning after being a Christian for a very long time. I used to talk to Him as I walked to and from school. Now, I talk to Him in my journals and I listen to Him through His Word, but the prayers aren’t just “give me” or “please, Lord…” or “can I have…” asking prayers. As good as those are, if I’m asking, I want to be asking for a closer relationship to Him. I want to meet Him one day and have Him recognize me. I want to see His glory and speak with Him as Moses did, face to face.
How about you? Do you know what it’s like to walk with God? Have you tasted Garden air? Have you known what it feels like to seek Him above all others, to love Him with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength?
Some of us used to walk with Him and we’ve forgotten what that’s like. Some of us have lost our first love. We’ve allowed the world, the flesh (our desires), and the enemy (yes, there is a devil) to lure us away from even the memory of that first time we knew He’d touched us. He knew our name. He called us and we heard Him. And we said yes.
Some of us need to remember what we’ve forgotten. You know the one awesome thing about God? HE doesn’t forget us. He was the one who went looking for Adam and Eve so they could walk with Him again. Of course, He knew why they were hiding. He knows why we hide too. But He still longs to pick us up and hold us close and be in relationship with us again.
I want that more than anything. I want it for me and I want it for you and for everyone I know and love. Because to walk with God made Moses’ face shine brighter than the sun. And can you imagine a joy more glorious than that?
One day we can walk with Him in a physical sense. Today we walk in spirit and in truth. He’s holding out His hand to take ours and walk down that garden path right now. He whispers our name and He rejoices over us with singing. He has our names written on His hands. And He loves us more than anyone else ever will.
What kind of relationship could be better than that?
#walkwithgod #livetruth #thegarden #adamandeve #relationshipwithgod #rememberyourfirstlove
