Read: Genesis 3:1-8

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day . . . (v. 8)

Adam and Eve turned away from the path of trust and obedience, and as a result, everything changed, starting with them. They became self conscious; for the first time they felt the emotion of shame (v. 7). They did know good and evil now, but good only as lost innocence, and evil by bitter experience.

From verse 7 onwards we are in our world, the world where thorns and thistles grow when we sow good seed, the world where daily life is a sweat drenched struggle against futility and frustration, the world where even the greatest joys are accompanied by pain, and where every hope filled birth ends in death. Adam and Eve didn’t quite realize all this yet, though they were starting to suspect that what they’d done wasn’t such a good idea.

But then God comes into the story. Adam and Eve heard him walking in the garden; what was that like, I wonder? However it happened, it means that God had come personally, looking for his lost children. The God of the Bible was on a mission, and the first missionary he sent into the world was himself. His mission of salvation began in the garden of Eden, but ultimately it would lead him into another garden–one with an empty tomb. If he weren’t this kind of God, the Bible would be a very short book. It would have ended at Genesis 3:7.

Thankfully, it doesn’t!

PRAYER:

We bless you for being a missionary God.