God's Walk in the Garden

The Lord God said,

“Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree

of which I commanded you not to eat?”

(from Genesis 3:8-15)

Imagine it’s the end of the day and God has decided to walk in the garden to enjoy the evening breeze.

God looking for a deeper relationship and holy conversation, realizes Adam and Eve are hiding, so God asks, “Where are you?”

God knows their emotional and spiritual condition since they are afraid and hide shamefully knowing they are naked.

God, acting like a prosecuting attorney, asks, “Who told you that you were naked?”

Then the Blame game begins.

Adam, avoiding responsibility for eating the fruit of the tree, responds by indirectly blaming God for giving him woman.

God asks the woman for her testimony, “Who told you?”

She blames the serpent for deceiving her into eating the fruit; a really bad choice because it results in being banished from the Garden of Eden.

God concludes the questioning and acts as the judge.

The verdict for the snake is to crawl on its belly and for the woman to be its constant adversary.

This verdict is an ongoing struggle.

Between Adam, Eve, and the serpent, only the serpent is cursed.

God has pronounced the verdict with the caution, “be careful who you listen to.” in your imperfect attempts at learning to become the responsible, caring adults you are created us to be.

The Garden of Eden story reminds us that God is always walking and ready to talk  with us as we work to overcome polarization, extreme hatred, and fear of others.