In the cool of the day

“The man and the woman heard the sound of the LORD GOD as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day,…”  Genesis 3:8

As I sit here this Sunday afternoon, we have an excessive heat warning.  The temperature is inching near 110 degrees.  I am hot.  I was hot yesterday as I went walking in 100 degree weather.  It is like breathing in an oven.  Your lungs burn.  My skin burns when I go out into the sun.  I keep coming back to this verse in Genesis 3.  “They heard the sound of the LORD GOD as He was walking in the cool of the day.”  I want to be where they are.  How enticing are those words, “in the cool of the day.”  I can only imagine what those days of innocence were like for Adam and Eve.  You can derive from Genesis 3:8, they had an appointment to walk with the LORD GOD in the cool of everyday.  It was an appointment He kept and it was an appointment Adam and Eve kept before their shame.

So I take today and pause to meditate on these walks they took with the LORD GOD in the cool of the day.

I call it my Sunday Selah.  The word Selah is found following certain stanzas and verses through out the Psalms.  The Hebrew definition of Selah paints a very clear word picture for us.  Selah means to praise and to lift up, or to hang, or to measure or weigh in the balances.  Some commentators believe the word Selah comes from the Hebrew word, Salah, which means to pause.  So from all these words comes the belief that “selah” is a musical direction to the singers and/or instrumentalists who performed the Psalms, to pause or take a break every time they came upon the word in a Psalm.

That is where we find God at the end of Genesis, chapter 2.  He is having a Selah.  God is resting, for all that He created is good.  Adam has a companion that he can share his life with.  Now God can enjoy all He has created.  His creation can enjoy their Creator.  The days of innocence are still upon us.  Try to imagine with me what those walks with the Lord in the cool of the day must have been like.

In Beth Moore’s study “Breaking Free”, she lists five benefits God graciously extends to His children.

1) To know God and believe in Him

2) To glorify God

3) To find satisfaction in God

4) To experience God’s peace

5) To enjoy God’s presence.

I think Adam and Eve experienced each of these benefits during those days of walking with God in the “days of innocence.”

In the Cool of the Day

The first couple lay entwined under the starry sky.  Their existence has been literally hours old.  They enjoyed the plush grass beneath them.  The stars above appeared as brilliant diamonds.  The atmosphere was so clear and brilliant.  There were no contaminations for the earth was still in its purest form.  Adam and Eve had enjoyed all God had given them.  They had eaten from the garden.  It was all organic.  The fruit had no need of pesticides for pestilence had not come upon the land as of yet.  They had enjoyed the gift of each other for that is how God had created them.  It was their physical make up.

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.  and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”  Genesis 2:24-25

Adam united with Eve under the stars that night unashamed because it was right in the eyes of their Maker.  They had become one flesh; God had ordained it.  This act was part of their DNA.  It was a fulfillment of the LORD’S command to be fruitful and multiply.  During their days of innocence everything was how it should be.  Now they lay holding hands gazing at the beauty that surrounded them.  Their was peace and contentment in their souls.  They fell asleep in the cool grass feeling completeness with their maker and each other.

Adam woke early the next morning.  Intuitively, he knew he had an appointment with his Maker.  He could hear the voice of the LORD GOD walking in the garden in the cool of the day.  God’s voice stirred excitement in him.  He couldn’t wait to meet with Him, and now he had a partner to share this excitement with.  “Come Eve,” Adam gently shook her awake.  “I hear the LORD calling our names.”  Together, hand in hand they came to draw near to HIM.  They found him reclining by the Tree of Life.  The Lord God waited expectantly for the couple.  He was anxious to start this relationship also.  As Adam and Eve drew near to the LORD, they could feel His Presence drawing near to them.  His Presence filled them completely.  They looked only to Him for wisdom.  They never even glanced at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  They had no need for the LORD their God was their wisdom.  He was their teacher, and they had much to learn about this garden He had placed them in.  Together they strolled down to the Pison River.  They walked on pure gold.  Adam and Eve skipped onyx stones across the water.  The Creator laughed at this.  They all laughed with each other.  The first couple were coming to know God not just as Creator but as the Only God.  They believed in Him.  Their belief grew deeper and stronger with each walk.  At night, they would take a moment to glorify God.  He was becoming magnified to them.  During those walks in the cool of the day, they found such satisfaction in Him.  He was all they needed.  They put all their dependence on Him.  His peace brought them completion and wholeness in their minds, bodies, and spirits.  As He spoke during their walks, His words became life to them.  They enjoyed the Presence of the Lord for they were unashamed before HIM.  They were innocent before Him. Life in the garden was good.  The walks in the cool of the day became their mainstay.  It was the appointment they couldn’t miss.

SELAH

Reply back with your thoughts on what Adam and Eve must have experienced on their walks with the Lord “in the cool of the day.”