Commented Bible Passages

“The Lord God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” (Genesis 3:8)

You take a walk when you have finished your work or the household tasks. A few steps outdoors to enjoy yourself and not for a specific goal. You leave your job or your home; you change the atmosphere. For a moment there are no other emergencies or needs; you are simply present, without a goal that is too precise and would monopolize your attention.

The author of this ancient biblical story describes a God who takes a walk without an ulterior motive. He profits from a free moment and from the garden. After hours of burning heat, a cool breeze springs up. God is not only the creator, always at work, who “neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:4). God rested on the seventh day, ceasing all activity and establishing the Sabbath. Freed from the tension and the concentration that the act of creation implies, God takes the time to recognize and appreciate the beauty and goodness of nature. He finds joy and pleasure in it.

To recognize each element and each living being, you have to move around and get closer to them. You also have to take some distance to consider them as a whole and in their mutual relationships. They are many. God goes towards each one.

God walks in the garden, a part of creation cultivated by human beings. Different plants are brought together for their beauty or for the food they produce. The labor of human beings cultivating nature is also God’s joy and pleasure. God comes to encounter human beings; he wants to be close to them; he hopes to enter a relationship.

If, for God as well as human beings, there is meaning in creating, working, beautifying and cultivating, there is also meaning in suspending this activity, in being open to recognize and appreciate the beauty and the value. God can say to each one: “You are good.” But also: “I remember you well. I bear you within me; I recognize you. I created you; I modeled you and I gave you an autonomous existence. You have a unique importance. I hope that you will recognize it, too. I hope that men and women will recognize it.” That nourishes a relationship.

God is not present in the stuff of creation, the care of which he entrusted to human beings. But creation recalls the intention of the creator. It bears God’s memory and witnesses to God’s will, God’s expectations, God’s gift. Creation carries within itself the presence of the creator, not a material one, but a relationship for those who, beyond observations and contemplation, remember their origins and their destination in God’s plan. Beyond physical beauty or utilitarian value, a sense of wonder can nourish gratitude and a relationship with God.

If the Creator was pleased to walk in the garden, is there not, for us, something divine in taking a walk in a natural environment, if we remember that it has been created and entrusted to our responsibility?

 When have I had the opportunity to stop my activities in order to appreciate a natural environment and a circle of friends?

 What words in the Bible help me to link my wonder at the beauty of creation with the intention of the Creator?

 With whom can I share my way of looking at creation? How can we awaken in others a contemplative attention to our natural and human environment?