The weight of the bundled baby in my arms for the first time was surprising. He was so tiny yet round and heavier than I had anticipated. His perfect face so unfamiliar.
Hi, Baby, I’m Mom, was my first thought. I practiced the word on my tongue attempting to take ownership of it. It felt foreign. This first introduction a bit awkward but precious.
That first eye contact with His freshly molded dust, is that where God fell in love with man? He had known him from the foundation of the world, yet as a new parent He reserved the right to feel the weight of the moment, as He watched man make sense of the moment, squinting his eyes in the light.
It all began in a garden. The fruit ripe for the picking, the scents of the blooms mingling with the grasses, the warmth of the sun and the song of the overhead birds praising Him.
That first garden where God introduces Himself to man and walks with His precious creation in perfection is a place of introductions and beginnings.
That first garden where God introduces Himself to man and walks with His precious creation in perfection is a place of introductions and beginnings.
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As the Word of God opens in these first chapters, God reveals Himself to the reader as One who is permanent. He reserves this revelation for those in the story to unveil much later through Moses. But for us, the readers on this side of the timeline, His memorial name, Yahweh, breathes off the page with a whisper of hope and holiness.
Yahweh’s intimate connection to man is evident as the second chapter of Genesis opens with the pronouncement: “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day Yahweh Elohim made the earth and the heavens,” (Genesis 2:4).
Right here He seems to whisper, “Hi, Baby, I’m Dad.” The permanent, covenant keeping God in relation to man is unveiled but to an unsuspecting man, He is the Creator.
Similar to those early days with a new baby. That baby knows nothing of the intimacy of relationship between child and parent. They merely hold to the mild recognition of the parent’s voice and presence. Unsuspecting of the relationship to come.
Man would later choose sin. His desire for sin would lead him away from God. The Lamb would come to redeem and restore. The same Yahweh, the same One from the garden continually holds out His nail scarred hand, “Hi, Baby, I am Dad.”
Permanent and eternal. This covenant keeper holds true even when we fail. He is the anchor in a shifting world of inconsistency and swirling pain. He extends Himself by offering His Son to rescue that which is broken and lost.
This Yahweh is our covenant keeping God who seeks intimacy with you through the blood of His sacrifice and the grace of His character. Jesus, Yahweh Saves, extends His nailed scarred hand to us today. You and I are seen, loved, and chosen.
Will we press into His Word and tether our wandering hearts to the promise of His love?
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