Footsteps in the Garden

It was a life filled with pain, sorrow, drug addiction and emptiness and yet on every hand Francis Thompson seemed to sense and hear the ever nearing steps of God behind him. He set out to put those feelings to paper in the 19th century and while the poem seems to have slipped into obscurity the message is the same. I can almost picture in my mind the chase scene. I used to have a police scanner back in the day before they computerized it and when they would go into chase mode, you could tell, they was huffing and puffing anytime they made a call on the radio. They were in hot pursuit and after their criminal. Listen as Francis Thompson opens his poem.

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Up vistaed hopes I sped;

And shot, precipitated,

Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,

From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

But with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbèd pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beat—and a Voice beat

More instant than the Feet—

'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me'.

Did you catch the fear, the pain, the running in his poem. We find in our passage Adam and Eve in a similar situation. In verse 7 after they ate the fruit it says, "Their eyes were opened" They began to see themselves through different eyes and they didn't like what they saw. The matter was only complicated by the sound of footsteps coming into the Garden in the cool of the day. Not only the footsteps but the voice of God, "Adam Where art thou?"

I'm Glad we have a Pursuing God.

When God Pursues

The Lost - I love the Parable Jesus tells of the Shepherd who lost just one of his sheep. The Bible says he left the 99 and went "Until he found" the lost one. Man is lost but we have a Shepherd a d Pursuing God who is not going to let one little lost lamb go without pursuing seeking after him until he finds him. He Finds - I love how the Bible tells the parable of the lost sheep, it says the shepherd goes out to seek "Until he finds" a pursing shepherd. Elisabeth Clephane wrote many years ago that great hymn, "The Nintey and Nine" one of the stanza's go like this,

“Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine; Are they not enough for Thee?” But the Shepherd made answer: “This of Mine Has wandered away from Me. And although the road be rough and steep, I go to the desert to find My sheep.”From <http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/The_Ninety_and_Nine/> When God Finds

We see the human pattern of lostness in this passage of Adam and Eve listen did you catch it,

Guilt Meets Grace - Listen to their guilt in verse 10 they confess it

They heard his footsteps - they knew who it was - they fled They were afraid - they discovered their guild They realized they were naked - An effect of sin - (This nakedness was more than that they didn't have clothes on, they lived like that for some time, it was that they didn't wan't God to see them like they were. They hid themselves - a result from their guilt. Aren't you glad that none of these things stopped God in his search for humanity. When God and man collide it is a meeting of Guilt versus Grace

Adam and Eve tried to cover and hid themselves, God's grace came and exposed them and showed them that yes choices have consequences and there would be penalty to pay - Grace never, never winks at sin, or pats it on the head and says it's ok, no it will change us and may not take away all of the consequences but it provides an escape route. In this instance, getting them out of the Garden of Eden was more an act of mercy to the rest of humanity than a punishment to Adam and Eve. They still lived a long time after this, but there came a time they had to die, can you imagine if they were still alive today the pain and anguish they would have. You Past and His Presence Meet - I'm glad we do not have to be defined by our past. I'm thankful God has a way of taking his sin blotter, and blotting away our sins. Not just covering them but taking them away by nailing them to the cross. The Old dies and we become a New Creature in Christ Jesus.

You can run but you can't hide was the saying of one of our former presidents who was in pursuit of the enemy. Can I say that his intent was by whatever means necessary to bring them in either dead or alive. God is not pursing people like that, but the stately steppings of the Savior go in and out of homes, business, and places of entertainment every day, seeking, searching, looking for that one lost sheep. Hoping to be able to put him on his shoulder and bring him back to the fold. Just like with Adam and Eve God gave them some things that had to be paid, but he also provided clothes, righteous robes, he gave them a blood sacrifice, he gave them a second chance, He gave them grace, mercy, pardon, and His Promise.