Walking through Regent's Park (Genesis 1 & 2)

I read: Genesis 1 & 2

I am sitting on a bench in Regent’s Park in the Queen’s Garden. I am under a great willow tree with an enormous trunk that juts out of the pond’s edge. The pond is right in front of me. I love willow trees and their hanging branches – this tree’s branches have been trimmed: they start about four feet above the ground over the path, and as you trace the circle of branches towards the pond they lower, dangling about a foot or two above the water, then back up to four or five feet as the circle loops back to the path. The wind is constantly present in London and for some reason it suggests to me the nearby ocean. A large wind a moment ago lifted up the branches over the water like a curtain.

As I started walking around the park I started wondering what it would have been like in the garden of Eden. There’s something so peaceful about a garden that simply describing one gives the soul rest.

But for all Eden’s beauty the real plus for its real estate was its owner, who was constantly present. I love the image of God, “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8).

Honestly, as refreshing as it is to walk through a garden – especially on a spring day with the wind (for me, anyways) – there is something frustratingly deceptive about it. For instance, as I write this in front of me is the pond. I stare at the water and see tiny waves in constant motion, the surface undulating and rolling as the wind presses its firm hand against it (reminiscent of “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” – Genesis 1:2) and there is something unsatisfying about it all. It is beautiful, and it gives me the desire to respond, but how? My being yearns for a way to satisfyingly accept the beauty in front of me and perform some act in which the feeling, the appreciation of beauty, can culminate.

This frustration is part of God’s truth in His Word that although creation is beautiful, we were not made to worship it. We were made to worship the Creator, and when we realize that we’re on the right track.

In “Desiring God” John Piper uses a good metaphor to explain this. Nature, he says, is like the postman dropping messages at our door – and we, like little children see his uniform and think “how spectacular, how glorious”, and we forget that he is only a messenger. Nature is the same way, daily delivering us messages about Jesus:

The heavens declare the
glory of God
The sky above proclaims his
handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)

That is what makes a garden walk satisfying: responding to God about the beauty, not back to creation. For what is the pond in front of me but water, it has no feelings, thoughts, or emotions, and contrary to the wisdom of Disney’s “Pocahontas” it does not have a life or spirit. When I look out at creation, I need to turn that eye filled with beauty into a heart full of praise

Day to day pours out speech,
and night reveals knowledge. (Psalm 19:2)

Most people on this planet, whether they know God or not, enjoy observing beauty – but the beauty here on earth is nothing but a testament to the glory and beauty of the Lord above.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! (Psalm 34:8)

Why do we find it hard to pursue God the way we pursue a viewpoint from the top of a mountain? In fact, in order to pursue a panoramic vista you have to do more work than to see and taste God – because Jesus did everything for us. Rather than us going up to God, He came down to us. We can press into God because our sin, the thing keeping us form Him, has been atoned for.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from a n evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10: 19-22)

The reason we don’t pursue God is because we like what we can do in our darkness of sin. We don’t want God with us because He is holy and righteous and just – and let’s face it, we’re not – and he condemns a lot of the stuff we do. No, we don’t want to be in the light – not yet. But our time for repentance slips away every day, and our lives are soon over.

I think being a Christian temporarily makes garden walks worse – because our eyes are opened to the full truth that Someone is missing. Because of our sin, we are not walking with who we were made to walk with. We should be walking next to Jesus, face-to-face – and the soul can only wonder what delights could be had with one moment with Jesus on a walk! Until then we’re face-to-face, He is yet unseen, but not unknown, and it is a great gift to have prayer, to speak out your amazement and wonder when you walk under the willow and look up at the branches, when you walk near a stream, when your breath is taken away by the beauty in front of you, or maybe when you feel that breeze blowing on your hands, face, and ears – like the Spirit of God pressing against us, filling our hearts like a sail with praise and adoration for God.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the Spirit – thank You that He reveals truth and turns my thoughts to You. You are a delight to think about and light upon my soul. Holy Spirit, to feel the wind blowing and pressing against me is wonderful, to feel Your thoughts pressing mine and changing them, giving me the mind of Christ. Jesus, You are the epitome of Spirit-filled, You delighted in God every day on earth, You were true to Him every second. I thank You that Your death has ransomed me from my own deserved death so that I have life with You and one day I will walk with You in a garden in the cool of the day.

Father, You are the Highest and the Greatest, the Lord of all. Give me wisdom about the trinity and help me to realize You are One – I have trouble with that. Unite my thoughts to that today. In Jesus’ good name, AMEN.