There are many aspects to the story of the Garden of Eden which are familiar to us:  man, woman, tree, fruit, serpent, not to mention those fig leaves.

Yet there is something that happens at the beginning that I think gets overlooked.  Our Heavenly Father comes to the garden; looking for His created.  He does not summon them through thunder and lightning.  He does not come with ideas of harshness and punishment.  Like in many other ancient religions, He does not come with the idea of playing with Adam and Eve as a child might play and then discard a toy.

No; God comes walking: “in the cool of the day”.  He is looking to commune with His creation.  It is obvious by His reaction to finding Adam and Eve hiding, that God did not expect them to be afraid of Him.  They had no reason to be.  As disappointed as He was with Adam and Eve’s behavior, He did not destroy them and start over.  He still loved them.  His creation was still very good.

God still longs to commune with us today.  He so hopes that we will not be afraid and hide from him.  That we do not use our limited knowledge to decide that our condition is not worthy of being with him.  He created us and when we could do nothing to elevate ourselves to a state where we could bring ourselves into His presence, He sent His son Jesus Christ to pave the way once and for all for us to come to Him.

So hang your fig leaves on the nails of the cross and come to Him, just as you are.