They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

—Genesis 3:8

Y’all, I’ve got to start today’s devotion off with a praise report. It seems completely crazy to me, but as of today, I’ve been writing and posting devotions for a full year! That’s something I never thought I would be able to do, and it has been such a blessing.

The best part of the experience has been discovering so much more about God than I ever expected there could be. In one year I feel like I’ve learned more about Who God is than in the past 5 years combined.

This is partly because I’ve begun to make it a practice to be alert and expectant of new revelation when I listen to others talk about what they have learned from their study. I want to know what God has revealed to them about Himself. But it’s also because I’ve spent more time reading and studying the Bible for myself. 

The key word in that last sentence is studying. Before committing to write a devotion every week, I might read the Bible, but I rarely dug deep with the expectation of finding something amazing. I knew of different tools I could use to better understand Scripture like Bible Hub or different commentaries, but I rarely used them. Reading the Bible had become more like an item on a list to check off rather than an opportunity to linger in my God’s presence.

That’s the key, I think, or at least it has been for me. The thing that has given me the biggest opportunity to learn more about Who God is, is when I decide to linger in His presence. 

The verse for this week is both full of beauty and full of tragedy. It’s full of beauty because God was most likely not walking in the garden because He wanted to see the pretty flowers; He was there to linger, to spend time with His children. It’s full of tragedy because the separation of sin is on full display. 

Adam and Eve had the opportunity to spend their time lingering in God’s physical presence. From their recognition of the sound of God’s footsteps—can you imagine being so close to God, you knew the sound of His footsteps?—it’s a pretty good guess that this was not the first time God had come down for a stroll with His children. I wonder what amazing things they learned from those walks, those moments of peace spent with their Creator.

I looked up the definition of linger. According to what Google tells me, to linger means to “stay in a place longer than necessary because of a reluctance to leave.” That reluctance can come from any number of different places or situations. Someone might linger because they don’t want to deal with the consequences that will ensue when they leave. Someone might linger out of curiosity. But the most beautiful reason someone might linger is out of love.

We can easily let the consequences of sin in our lives rob us of our own moments of peace. It may be a feeling of guilt that prevents us from seeking time with our Father, or it could be the brokenness of our world that manifests itself through busyness, fatigue, or illness.

Regardless of what it is, think about what it would be like to be so deeply enraptured by Who God is that we just can’t tear ourselves away from our time with Him, to linger because the love we have for the most worthy of Fathers makes us reluctant to leave. What a life of blessing that would be!

That’s the beauty of this week’s verse—even when we have let things get in the way and distract us from the Father we should want to spend time with, He still comes to the garden. The opportunity for abundant lingering is still waiting there for the taking because He delights to offer it.

This week, let’s take a break. Let’s linger. Let’s draw close with expectation. Our Father is waiting.