Walking

The other day, I was at the mall with my family. As you know, my son Morgan is four. He is just like any other inquisitive and adventurous boy. So, while we were at one of those big department stores, he walked around to the other side of one those round clothing racks, exploring aimlessly. I was pushing our other son in the stroller and lost sight of Morgan. When I realized that Morgan was missing, I freaked. There is a moment of shear terror when you realize that your kid is missing. Every part of my being wanted to start shouting his name. I starting searching frantically for him through the racks, walking back an forth. Turns out, he had only walked around the rack and was following me the whole time. But, those of you who have kids know that feeling. I was studying the Bible in the original Hebrew the other day and ran across something that gave me a glimpse of God's nature. After Adam and Eve sinned, the text tells us that they made coverings out of fig leaves and hid themselves. It tells us that God went walking through the Garden of Eden looking for them in the cool of the day. From our modern translations, the word "walking" gave me the impression that God was strolling nonchalantly through the garden thinking, "Hmmm, I wonder where Adam and Eve are?" The original Hebrew suggests an interpretation that unfortunately is lost in the translation. Ancient Hebrew has eight different themes to describe the action of a verb. One of those themes is called the Hithpael - intensive/reflexive (bet you didn't think you would be getting an unsolicited Hebrew lesson today, did you?). SO! "Walking" should really be translated, "walking around, back and forth." It also implies an intensity to the walking. God was intensively walking around, back and forth, searching for Adam and Eve. Now, lets see if you are catching the gravity...
Lets get this straight. Adam and Even had just committed the sin of all sins - they wanted to be like God. They just committed the sin that brought death to all humans. They condemned humanity. So, they hid themselves from God. God went looking for them. It seems that His search was not a halfhearted search. He intensively walked back and forth looking for his children. They had strayed away from Him and were hidden. It seems to me that it could be true that He went tearing through the garden yelling, "ADAM!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!!!"
We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Our tendency is to hide from God and hope that He doesn't find us. I think that we believe that because we have dropped the ball in some aspect of our life, God automatically turns his back on us. The spiritual reality is that God intensively seeks us out. God is walking back and forth, walking all around, intensively looking for us yelling, "MY CHILD, WHERE ARE YOU?!!" This gives greater spiritual relevance to the parable of the lost coin. "Or suppose a woman has a then silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, seep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." How cool is that?