"Cool Of The Day Moments"

As I was going to sleep last night I had a thought about those 'cool of the day' moments that God, Adam, and Eve shared in the garden. I was thinking about the "Presence" of God in my day to day life. When I woke this morning the idea of being in His "Presence" was still the most prominent thought so I decided to look up the word in the Strong's to see what the word, presence means in the Hebrew.  Presence means; (6440) from 6437; the face (as the part that turns); (6437) a prim. root; to turn; by implication to face, i.e. appear, look, etc. So according to the Hebrew the concept of being in God's presence means being face to face with Him.

The very first time the word presence is used in the word is in Genesis 3:8. It is found in that last 'cool of the day' moment that God, Adam, and Eve shared and unfortunately it was unlike all that had gone before. ...And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. When it says they hid themselves from His presence what they were hiding from was that coming face to face moment.

In Psalms 27:8 there is a verse that says, "When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek." Psalm 27:8 This verse is one of my favorite verses because it reminds me that when He says, "Seek My face" it really  means that it is His desire to have those 'cool of the day moments' with me as well.  This verse reminds me that it is as much about His desire to be face to face with us as it is about ours to respond back with our heart's cry of, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."

Since this is one of my all time favorite verses I immediately went to it when the meaning of His Presence meant 'the face.' I decided to see what face in this verse meant in the Strong's as well. Face- (6440) from 6347 the face (as the part that turns); (6437) a prim. root; to turn; by implication to face, i.e. appear, look, etc. The word presence in Genesis 3:8 and the word face in Psalm 27:8 are the same word, the same meaning and in both cases God's desire is the same. He showed up with the desire to have a cool of the day moment; a face to face with Adam and Eve. They turned and hid their face from God. In Psalm 27 God is still showing up and asking man to "Seek His face.' His desire is to have the kind of relationship with us that means we won't run and hide from His face!

I don't know about you but my desire is to have those cool of the day moments with Him that are spent in His presence, face to face and not ones where I'm hiding out in the bushes afraid to show myself  because I'm afraid to look into His face or to meet His gaze. Thanks to Jesus we can come boldly into His presence because Jesus made the way for us to have those face to face moments. He was able to make the way because of one very specific moment when God did turn His face away. That huge special amazing horrible moment when Jesus cried out, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is , "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Matthew 27:46 It was in that moment when 'He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.' 2 Corinthians 5:21 It was in that moment when He paid for our sins and was forsaken or rather separated from the Father's presence that makes it possible for you and I to have those 'cool of the day moments' where when He calls out 'Where are you?" we can run up to Him and say, "Here I am!"

Why? Because His invitation is still the same, "Come into My Presence! Seek My face!" and our response needs to be. "Your face, Lord, I WILL seek!"