THE VOICE OF GOD

Have you ever thought about the fact that the first voice that Adam heard in the garden besides the sound of his own was the voice of God?  God spoke and described the world around Adam. His Word described His standards and design.  His Word interpreted for Adam how life was to be lived.  He spoke with kindness and love, peace and hope, life and liberty. His Word provided boundaries and freedom.  His Word allowed choice.  Adam and Eve shared their lives with God in the garden.

God spoke to Adam and Eve.  He revealed Himself to them, He defined His will, and He gave them identity through human language. God spoke to them in a way that they could understand. HOW AMAZING IS THIS!  The Creator of the whole universe, from the beginning has spoken to His people clearly, consistently and comprehensively.    From the beginning, God was not distant or unreachable.  God does not hide Himself from us.

Until the serpent in the garden spoke, the only interpretation of life was that of which God had spoken to Adam and Eve. (God’s Divine perspective). The garden was a place of peace and harmony based on God' standard and design...When the serpent spoke it was the first time that the authority of God was challenged. It was that moment in time where a different interpretation of life was spoken...Life has never been the same...
This just gives me all the more encouragement to know His Word, His interpretation of life (even more)...so that I may sanctify the Lord God in my heart…

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and He said to the woman, Has indeed God said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God has said ,’You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it lest you die.’”

Then the serpent said to the woman,” You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day that you it of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate.  She also gave it to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden

Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

So he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

And He said, Who told you that you were naked? Genesis3:1-11

The serpent introduced questioning God’s authority and contradicted God through the phrasing of His divine command… Eve actually distorted the divine command through her added interpretation.

When we choose to go our own way, when we interpret life from our own perspective, when we walk in a way opposite of the freedom God has provided for us, we are the ones that have chosen to make ourselves distant, hidden, and unreachable.

Yet the truth is.  God’s arm is not shortened. We are not unreachable.  No matter where we have gone, no matter what we have done.  He loves us with an everlasting love. His goodness and mercy follow after us all the days of our lives. 

Yet we get to choose how to respond to that love or not. Our response if we choose to agree with Him looks like a heart softened to repentance.  Simply stated…we agree with the fact that we are wrong and He is right.  We are truly sorry deep within for our actions and are beginning to understand how terrible our sin is. We choose to turn our lives in the direction opposite of the way we were going. We surrender to God and His interpretation. We receive His finished work on the cross, and we are made new.  We chase after God with everything within us.  We purposefully live our lives surrendered to God and His Word to the best of our ability and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Not agreeing with Him, not responding to His love…means we just keep living life…same same.  We then are hardening our hearts and rejecting God, His Word and His Salvation, the finished work on the cross…We continue to hide from His voice, and His gentle leadings of His Holy Spirit.  We continue to distance ourselves, from the One with an everlasting love.

Today, when you hear His voice, that gentle, loving leading of His Spirit, how will you respond? Will you agree?  Or will you harden your heart?