3-20-2024

Good Morning All,

           Genesis 3:8; “In the cool of the evening, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking around in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden.”

    My wife and I enjoy gardening. I do the vegetables and she does the flowers. We order different types of seeds and then proceed to grow them, or at least try to grow them.  Through the winter we look at catalogs and websites getting ideas for what to grow. But this does not beat actually seeing the plants actually growing. We like to see flower gardens or even a vegetable garden with the plants flourishing and producing. We, like many people, enjoy the peacefulness, the beauty, and the quiet time with nature.     

    In our verse, we can easily imagine the beauty and the quietness of the garden as God walked in the cool of the evening.  It is safe to assume that Adam and Eve were quiet as they tried to hide from God.  Yet despite the fact that they were hiding, God was looking for them.  God was calling to Adam and Eve.  In the quietness, God sought out his lost children calling to them to come back home.  He was noisy; trying to get them to respond.

   Many years later, we see a different garden.  It is late at night, and it is quiet.  Some of the people there are sound asleep.  Others are searching for someone so they are moving through as quietly as they can.  Off, all by himself, Jesus is praying.  He prays to God, but God is quiet.  Jesus is beginning to face the wrath of God by himself.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, God was silent.  His wrath left him silent.

    All for you and me, Jesus prayed in a garden when God was silent.  God was silent because all was decided.  A bill was due; a price to be paid.  The wrath of God was poured out upon Jesus.  It started in the garden and continued on the cross.  God’s silence, pouring his holy wrath on Jesus, means God is seeking us all the time.  God is not silent about you and me.

    God calls out to you and to me continually through his Word.  Because of God’s silence in the Garden of Gethsemane, God is not silent to us.  He calls us with his love and grace and desires.  He heals us as he restores us.  His grace gives us hope.  He gives us hope so that we can go to the garden and sit in peace knowing that our salvation is sure, our future proven and our present provided for.  God walks in the garden of life with you to keep you safe.  This can be the source of your great comfort and hope.  We can trust in God’s promise to give us the victory over the devil and all his lies and attacks.  God gives us peace in the garden.

Father of all mercy, you bring me hope and peace.  You call to me that I might hear your joyous Word of comfort and grace.  Keep us safe in your loving arms.  Be with those who feel that you are silent to them.  Bring them the peace of your loving mercy.  Heal their pain and bring them into your gracious kingdom.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret