Dancing in the Light

I John 1:7 "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin."

Name:
Location: North Platte, Nebraska, United States

I am a christian wife, mother and grandmother. I am a licensed Social worker and a licensed Christian counselor. I am most proud of the relationships I have with God, my family and friends all over the world. I have been blessed beyond my dreams.

Monday, May 14, 2007

When God Comes Walking

Have you ever waited and waited for someone to show up? I remember as a child, being so excited at company coming that I ran to the window every few minutes, pulled back the curtain, looked both ways and then sat back down with a disappointed sigh, only to jump back up and repeat the process, stirred by even the slightest sound outside. I am still very much that way. I love, I mean really love, having company. I make all the preparations in advance and then I watch . . . and watch . . . and watch. I can hardly wait to spend time with the people I love.
I can't imagine ever seeing them pull into the driveway and then running into the bedroom to hide. I can't imagine holding my breath, trying to calm the dog, and doing everything in my power to remain unseen. I want to spend time with them and hiding would only come into play if it were a surprise party.
Now, imagine hiding when God comes to visit. Imagine hearing God come walking by and running to hide. Imagine sitting as quietly as you can, slowing your breathing and willing your heart to pound less loudly. Imagine your legs beginning to cramp from sitting so still and silently enduring the pain, refusing to move, for fear of being discovered. Can you imagine that? From God?
Genesis 3 tells us that Eve was deceived by Satan and disobeyed God. Adam followed suit. In their new found awareness, they discovered they were naked and so they made coverings out of fig leaves. Then verse 8 says "Then 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." Wow! They tried to hide from God! They tried to hide from God in the garden He created from nothing. They tried to hide from God in HIS GARDEN!!! The text goes on to tell us that God called them and they came out of hiding. I can almost picture the scene.
They hear the footsteps of the Father, Adam grabs the hand of his wife and practically drags her into the thicket. He is grateful to be clothed with leaves, hoping it will camoflauge their presence. "Where are you ?" God calls as He looks at the very bushes where they are hiding. I can almost feel their discomfort as they feel His eyes looking right at them. They keep their eyes closed and tremble. For a fleeting second, they run through possible outcome scenarios, could they run? If they don't move and don't respond will He move on? Could they play dead? Finally, with a recognition of who God is, they step out from the bushes, heads hanging low, eyes focused on the ground, clutching at each other's hands.
What would make someone even try to hide from God? Only one thing, sin! I think we do this more often than we care to admit. We sin and we, "in our newfound awareness", decide to try and cover it up. Our fig leaf of choice is usually a lie. We attempt to cover up our sins by lying, hoping no one can see through it. We do a pretty good job convincing those around us that we did not sin, that it was not a very big sin, or that we had no choice. Then we hear the footsteps of God. Then we hear God come walking and we panic. We avoid church, hiding among other sinful people, hoping we will be sufficiently camoflauged. We try to remain inactive, hoping to not draw any attention to ourselves, we do nothing, willing the small voice in our conscience to whisper, with the sound of a guilty heart beating loudly in our ears. But, then we hear, "Where are you?" and like Adam and Eve, we are afraid, we know we are caught. All the options run through our minds. We cannot play dead, because our God can raise the dead. We cannot run, because our God is everywhere, we cannot hide because our God sees everything. We swallow deeply and we stand, we come forward, tears streaming down our face, falling on our knees and we stammer-----"I . . . I disobeyed and I . . . I was afraid, I am so sorry."
The scenario has played out very much like the scene in the garden but the ending is different.
We are not cast out, we are not punished. Instead, God reaches out His hands to us, (you know the ones with the nail holes). He welcomes us home and He throws a party. We are amazed, we are humbled, we are in awe that He still loves us and we vow to never run and hide again. We vow that we will be ready . . . next time God comes walking.

Peace
Neva

22 Comments:

Blogger Monalea said...

I love how you put it all into words and make it come alive. I know accepting His grace and mercy is sometimes the hardest thing to grasp.

Love you,
Monalea

p.s. Do you think for the first time when Eve was dressed in fig leaves that she turned to Adam and said, "Does this make me look fat?"

8:36 AM  
Blogger TREY MORGAN said...

Neva,

You know I use to laugh when I thought about Adam and Eve trying to hide from God. But I find myself doing the same stupid thing Adam and Eve did in the garden.

I don't ever want to hide from God, but I do. I think others do too.

When I sin and I think God's tired of forgiving me, so I don't pray or don't ask for forgiveness ... I'm trying to hide from God just like Adam and Eve.

When we think, "God won't forgive me AGAIN, for the 1000th time, so I'm not going to ask." We're hiding from God.

Thanks for reminding me how much God loves me and reaches out His had to bless and forgive me.

9:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love having people come over too, and I am always looking out the window, waiting for them to get there. So much fun anticipating their arrival!

WOW -- how cool would it be to look out your window in excitement because GOD is coming over?! I wouldn't be able to sit still!

10:23 AM  
Blogger Lori said...

Now, imagine hiding when God comes to visit. No, I can't imagine hiding from a visitor, but I sure understand what you are getting at here in this post. Thank you for your always very uplifting and convicting post.

11:22 AM  
Blogger Aunt Angie said...

I love that! You are gifted with spiritual insight. Thanks for sharing. I popped over here from Beba's site. I am glad I did. I enjoyed your words of wisdom and encouragment. I read several of your entries. I like to do that on every blog I visit...it's like "really getting to know someone's heart"
Be blessed today! (And everyday!)

1:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amazing post!

Lyndsay

4:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We all try to hide our sins or at least pretend they dont exist.

Dan

4:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Neva,
your post today really touched me. Christians in camoflauge, what a concept! We cannot hide, we'd better just fess up.

Rachel

4:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That entire scenario in the Garden always makes me chuckle. It didn't end well but they were so pure in their sinning. They did exactly what one would do when sinning for the first time after a "lifetime" of innocence.

He is good and gracious and merciful but it seems we're still silly little childlike creatures when it comes to sin. Will we ever grow-up?

5:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I get so tired of trying to hide and everytime I promise I wont but I always do. I appreciate your insight and the comments here today.

Corinne

5:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amen


Jean

6:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just love visiting here.

Pat

6:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sin makes us all do a lot of stupid things, doesn't it?

Good reminders here.

Carlos

7:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Willing our hearts to beat more quietly" You paint great word pictures. I can picture it myself.
You are a very gifted and inspiring writer.

And I know you are just as gifted and inspiring in person. I am so glad you are my friend.
Love ya
Kel

8:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, I also like the part about God reaching out His hands, you know the ones with nail holes in them.
That was very powerful.

Kel

8:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am so glad God does not give up on us even when we act so dumb.
Thank you for reminding me how much he loves us.

Mary

9:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good job, sister

Dean

9:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amen,
I am like your other comment givers, I like your word pictures. You do a great job of making us see what you are saying.

I have tried to hide- and it didn't work.

9:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Doesn't God get to a point when he gets tired of us turning our backs on Him and so then He turns His back on us?

Are you saying that God doesn't punish us sometimes?

Just wondering.

11:50 PM  
Blogger Neva said...

nb
Thanks for commenting. I believe God is tired of us turning our backs on Him but I believe He shows the same kind of mercy on us that He has always showed on His people. The children of Israel turned their backs again and again and they were forced to pay the consequences. They repented and God opened up His arms. In the post, I intended to show repentance --the words "I was wrong and I am sorry and we vow to not hide again, to be ready when God comes walking" I had hoped those words would show a confession of sin, as well as a penitent heart.
God is not willing that any should perish and so long as there is that contrite heart and broken spirit within us, I believe He will not punish us. We will still have consequences to pay because all choices have consequences but I dont believe we will be punished.
Hope this clears it up---I will try to be more clear in the future.
Peace
Neva

7:05 AM  
Blogger The Preacher's Household: said...

Add this to your top post list. I really liked it.

For VBS a few years ago, a little boy and a little girl barbi-like dolls were bought to put in with our 'garden'. One sweet member strategically painted green leaves on. I have thought that we are very good at strategically painting over our indecencies instead of clothing ourselves with godliness.
:)
Kathy

2:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Neva, you did a great job on this post and you were clear. I'm just kind of slow to understand sometimes... but I'm learning.

12:40 AM  

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