Pastor's Blog
Cool of the Day
Genesis 3:1-8
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,[a] knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
There is a piece of music I sang in college called "Cool of the Day" by John Ratledge. It is one of my favorite choral music scores to direct and sing. It is essentially based on verse eight of the scripture above. It speaks of God arriving in the garden in the cool of the day.
During our trip to National Youth Conference on the bus, we spent a day in the Badlands. Now I am not a fan of heat by any means; I have also gained a new appreciation of air conditioning. The heat I experienced was a dry heat, which I did not remember from years past. Let's just say we did not mesh well. have you ever experienced this kind of heat? How did it make you feel? What was your reaction? Some people love this mind of dry heat, and even some use it to help with illnesses. This, however, was not me.
I could imagine the breeze that came into the garden when God showed up. I bet it was so cooling that it was refreshing to those present. Sometimes, we have to feel the heat to experience the cool of God's presence. When we allow God to be genuinely present with us, we should share a cooling of our soul, our being, and our overall lives. Have you experienced God in the cool of the day? I invite you to google the song and experience the music for yourself.
Look for God in the cool of the day!
Peace,
Pastor Harvey