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}
Eva has been potty-trained for almost a year now, but as those of you with little ones know, it sometimes takes a while before they can do all the wiping and whatnot by themselves. So, she will sit and wait for me to help her.
"Momma! I'm done!"
"Okay, I'm coming." I reply.
Now, "I'm coming," rarely means I'm coming right now. It usually means I'll come when I've finished what I'm currently doing, when I'm done helping whatever child is needy, or when I must finally relent my comfort and get up off the couch.
So if I don't come quickly enough for her liking, she will start yelling out to me.
"Momma, I'm done!"
"Momma! I don't hear you walking..."
"Momma!!! I. DON'T. HEAR. YOU. WALKING!"
And I laugh, because my 2 year old knows the sound of my footsteps approaching the bathroom to help her, and she also knows she can't hear them yet, which means that I'm not, in fact, coming.
Sitting on the couch with her this morning while she and her brother watched a dinosaur show, I thought about that concept. How she knows the sound of my walking. How, likewise, I know the footsteps of those with whom I live and love. I know what it sounds like when my husband walks by. The door can be shut, and I still know without a doubt that it's him.
I know what it sounds like when her tiny, two-year-old feet are frantically slapping the hardwood floor, running as fast as they can after the dog. I know what her oldest brother's feet sound like when they're upstairs stomping around like a gorilla. And I know whose feet are out of bed and coming back down the stairs at night when all the little feet in the house are supposed to be asleep.
I know the sound of their walking.
Can you imagine being in Adam and Eve's position (I'd say shoes, but my guess is they weren't wearing any) and knowing the sound of the Lord walking?
They communed with the Lord. They were intimately acquainted. They worked together, talked together, and did life together.
They knew the sound of his footsteps.
And I guess the question to us today is, can you hear Him walking?
Do you know your Father's footsteps?
The reality is, He's moving and working among us, regardless of the state of the world today. But can we hear it? Are we looking for his footsteps?
May the soil of our hearts be fertile and ready to focus on him alone.
May the harvest of our minds produce a crop of revelations from his Spirit.
May our eyes be clear as water to see his sovereignty and grace.
And may our ears be intimately tuned to his character and ways
that we may hear him walk in the cool of the day.
