Talkin' to Jesus

"Where are you?" God answered. "I heard you and I was afraid."

"In the beginning..." many of us know these verses from the Bible, they talk about when God would come down from Heaven and walk with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I can picture all three of them together "in the cool of the day" strolling along in the beautiful foliage, chatting, laughing.... God telling them stories about creation, angels ...

This was all before Adam and Even encountered the snake and were deceived, where after God calls out to them to take one of their walks and Adam tells him that he and Eve were afraid and hid from Him. I wonder how many of us are walking around in hiding, afraid of God?

When God calls out to take a walk with you, how do you respond?

Adam and Eve knew God, they knew what He was like, they saw His kindness and His faithfulness towards them, yet they became full of guilt and shame and misjudged God's character in an instant. They believed a lie. There are so many things in this world that want to inform our perceptions about God. So many things that want to whisper to us stories about who we are, and who we are not.

The most pure and innocent place that we can learn about God, is in the Bible.

Not only is going to the Bible an act of returning to the Garden to walk and talk with God, when we read our Bibles, our Bibles read us. The word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, it cuts away at all of our guilt, all of our shame, and anything that tries to separate us from God. The truth of God's word wipes away the scales off of our eyes that blind us to who God is, it exposes any deception that hinders us and reveals the beauty of how we were fearfully and wonderfully made. The Bible points us towards the purpose in our design, our true selves!

God is always pursuing us, relentless in His love towards us. Our God will always welcome us back into His presence, and He is full of Grace and Mercy. Reflect on times where you've felt His presence and ignored it, felt unworthy, or afraid. The key to returning to the Garden where we hear from God, is to recognize that we're turning away when He's calling for us. We can always turn back to Him, He honors the smallest step in His direction and meets us right where we are. Talking to Jesus, there's no wrong way to do it, there's no bad time to start.

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

- Jeremiah 33:3