Understanding God: He Keeps in Touch Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of…
Understanding God: He Keeps in Touch
Then the 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. – Genesis 3:8 (New International Version)
In continuation of our exploration of the nature and personality of God, another insight derived from our reference passage is that He keeps in touch. He does not just set up and leave or commission and then go AWOL. No, He maintains contact and relationship with His creatures.
The passage we are meditating on today shows us how God sought out Adam and Eve by visiting them in the garden in the cool of the day. There is something about this scenario that suggests that the visit was neither a one-off thing nor an extraordinary one. God must have been regularly visiting the couple before to fellowship with them, since that was one of the reasons He created them in the first place (Revelation 4:11).
This aspect of God should help us to better appreciate the fact that He is even closer to us than we can imagine. The fact that Adam and Eve erred and that created a vacuum between them and God does not mean that God then isolated Himself totally from them or from their descendants after them. If He did, we would not have read about His various encounters and interactions with other individuals and peoples in the Bible. That is one reason.
Therefore, even when humans fell and kept failing Him, God did not abandon them altogether. He was always scouting the length and breadth of the earth to see who He could relate with, offer help to and come through for (2 Chronicles 16:9). The secret to connecting Him when He passes by is to have a pure heart, as that is what He is always scanning to know those ready to house Him.
Secondly, the fact that God later sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the earth to complete the project of reconciling humanity to Himself, this time on a very large scale, shows how much God values connecting with humans and relating with them.
Now, isn’t it interesting to know that God truly values a relationship with us? The fact that we may not see Him in physical form does not negate His existence, reduce His ubiquity or lessen the intensity of His desire to connect.
Indeed, the scriptures and history are replete with the accounts of those who have been able access and form a bond with Him. Those whom He Himself personally called because He had special needs for them, or those who really desired a relationship with Him and paid the price for having it through personal devotion and their life choices. Those to whom His invitation that “you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) meant more than mere words to. The question is, are you one of them?
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. – Habakkuk 2:14
And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth…” Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – Genesis 1:22,28
In continuation of our meditation on the nature of God, another of His attributes that we shall meditate on today is His predisposition to blessing. He is a blesser; the God who blesses His own works.
It is instructive that when God created all the other elements He had made earlier, He only appraised their final outlook. However, after He created living creatures, starting from birds to sea creatures, winged birds, cattle, beasts, and ultimately humans, He started blessing them as we can see in the reference passage above. God knew that humans were going to betray His confidence and stray in their ways, yet He blessed them. He also knew that some of the other creatures He made were going to turn rogue, yet this did not prevent Him from pronouncing blessings on them.
By proclaiming blessings on His living creatures, God defined how He wanted them to be engaged through the prism of blessings. To the living creatures, He said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” To the humans, He said, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This tells us that humans are created for blessings, to bless and be blessed by a God who blesses. Some of the blessings He pronounced on humankind include fruitfulness, multiplication, replenishment, and dominion. Now, if the very first engagement of God with His creatures is anchored on blessing, should you do otherwise?
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. – Habakkuk 2:14
Understanding God: He is Methodical Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the…
Understanding God: He is Methodical
Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. – Genesis 1:20-21
In continuation of our meditation on the nature of God, another of His attributes which we shall explore today is process and organization. He is a methodical God. I remember a scenario that happened some years ago, two of my colleagues were talking and one cited an African saying that “the chicken was feeding on something else before the maize was created.” This maxim is often used to chastise someone who is depriving another of a means of livelihood, thus implying that the person being denied would get by, nonetheless.
Although, I was not part of the conversation, I couldn’t help myself from cutting in and refuting that the adage could not be farther from the truth, as God did not create the chicken before the feed. He is not mindless. Rather, He created everything in a logical sequence such that none was left hanging because the support system they needed either in form of feeding or housing were not in place.
He is very methodical and is systematic in His ways. If you read the story of creation again, you would appreciate the thoughtful way God does His business. He had everything planned out and did not put the horse before the cart in any of His works. Everything He created had the facility to nurture and sustain the next creature, thus showing a natural progression until the very end. He had the oceans in place before He created sea creatures; the same way with animals, He had created the earth before making them. By the time He was creating His masterpiece, humans, He had everything in place for their basic sustenance.
He did not launch into creating humans first because He was eager to replicate Himself only to start wondering what they would feed on and where they would stay. He had all those in place prior. This is a big deal attribute because the world is full of people who literally put the cart before the horse and jump into things without first pausing to think through what they need to do and how they would need to achieve it.
The good news is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. The question is how methodical and organized are you? Do you think through before you start or you are the type who starts first and then start to figure out the intricacies as you proceed?
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. – Habakkuk 2:14
The God of Imagination: Seeing Possibility in Chaos
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good… – Genesis 1:2-4
In continuing our exploration of the personality of God, another attribute of His that we will spotlight today is imagination. He is an imaginative God.
Imagination can be described as the inner eye. The eye that sees beyond the physical or surface value. Imagination is the eye that sees potential and prospect where such are not obvious. It is the eye that sees what can be even when it is not accessible to the average eyes. Imagination is the eye with which God sees. That is why He is able to call things which are not as though they were (Romans 4:17) because He sees beyond the surface value to know the true state of everything and what they might turn out to be.
Imagination is the power that served God so well during the process of creation such that He was able to make several creatures from few things. According to our reference passage above, when God saw an entity that “was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep,” a prospect that could easily discourage any creative effort, what God saw in the midst of all those shambles were light, heaven, earth, sea creatures, plants, animals, and humans. That was why He could decree those creatures into existence because His eyes had already seen them even when they were not obvious to anyone else. And from that jumble of confusion that the universe was, God started to make things, light, day, night, firmament, seas, ground, birds, fish, animals and so on.
Imagination is the springboard to invention and innovation. It is impossible to create anything without first imagining it to be sure how it would look after creation. God is the father of imagination, and He has created we humans in His image and likeness. That means we must be conscious of the advantage we have and be deliberate in using it to create the world that we desire for ourselves.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. – Habakkuk 2:14
Understanding God: A Gentle Father Who Respects Human Choices
God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion. God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man. The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh!” – Genesis 2:18-23 (The Message)
In continuation of our meditation on the nature of God, another attribute of His we shall meditate on today is his gentle nature. He respects human’s choices and wishes. Having created humans as a free moral agent, He usually does not force anything on anyone, except in extraordinary circumstances.
The first indication of this attribute of God we are availed in the Bible is the scenario of seeking a partner for Adam. Having publicly expressed His concern about Adam being alone as well as His plan to find him a suitable helper, God brought all manners of creature to Adam to see if he would find anyone suitable among them. We can only imagine how many hundreds of thousands or even millions these creatures were. Their number thus tells us the number of times God tried to matchmake Adam with a potential partner.
However, Adam refused them all in their numbers. Therefore, the number of creatures that God brought to him that Adam named differently represented the number of times he said ‘no’ to God. Meanwhile, God did not take offense at this or reprimand Adam for being too choosy. Afterall, He was God. On the contrary, He respected Adam’s wishes. And guess what, He tried again!
God tried again and again!
He kept bringing more and more creatures to Adam to see if he would find a worthy mate among them. But Adam did not see the need to do eye service for God by meeting Him halfway and accepting one of the creatures brought to him as partner. They must have been so close as to enjoy that kind of liberty.
Finally, after He had exhausted his picks and there was no other creature to present to Adam, God decided to try another method to solve the problem of finding a partner for the man. This latest method seemed to work because immediately Adam saw the creature that was formed from his rib he proclaimed her the one:
The Man said,
“Finally! Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man.” (Genesis 2:23)
The scenario leading to this proclamation throws an insight into the temperate nature of God. He did not impose on Adam or use His authority to subdue or manipulate him into capitulation. He did not castigate Adam for wasting His time either. Rather, He kept bringing more and more creatures to Adam and He did not stop trying until Adam finally found and labelled his own partner.
He is a considerate God.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. – Habakkuk 2:14
Understanding God: He is A Nurturer The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground…
Understanding God: He is A Nurturer
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden… Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. – Genesis 2:8-10
In continuation of our exploration of the nature and character of God, our meditation today shall be on His attributes as a Gardener or Nurturer. In other words, we will be exploring His nurturing attributes.
By nature, God is a nurturer. He did not have to do anything on earth when His work was done. But after He created it, He did not stop cultivating and tending it. That was why He formed the different earthly creatures He made – the birds, sea creatures, plants, animals and humans, all inhabitants of the earth. He did not stop there, He also decided to cultivate a garden, a special place for Himself on earth where He could lounge whenever He came by (Genesis 3:8).
It’s the thinking behind such an endeavor that we are considering today as we appreciate the nature of God. It takes someone who is deeply connected to nature to want to plant a garden. Just like most vocations, it requires its own unique disposition of the heart to venture into it. One must love nature to want to plant a garden. So this garden God planted eastward in Eden was an indication of His love for nature. He did not just make all things; He also appreciates the beauty in all things.
There is also an element of meticulousness in planting a garden. One does not just dig in random plants in a garden. Careful thoughts usually go into choosing the plants and flowers that would be planted there. So the idea of planting a garden also indicates God observing this special care in choosing what plants should be cultivated in the garden He was planting out of all the species He had created.
Having a garden also requires certain disciplines to keep the plants fresh and alive. We also see this in God. He did not just start a garden and then left it when the novelty of seeing it was over, No. He also instituted two mechanisms to keep the garden going. Firstly, He channeled a great river from Eden to water the garden thus keeping it forever nurtured. Secondly, He also created man (Adam) and placed him in the garden to tend it.
Therefore, while the point of our meditation today is not on gardening per se, it is more on the inner workings of the heart of true gardeners. They are lovers of nature, they are nurturers, they are preservers, they appreciate beauty, they value life, and they do all these with passion and appreciation of the environment. These are offshoots from God, the Ultimate One.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. – Habakkuk 2:14
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