阅读经文 

在阿巴拉契亚山道徒步旅行时，我观赏到四月初盛开的野花。我特别注意到一种好看的白色早春花。但是，它的茎不幸断了，向一边耷拉着。这让我想起了《圣经》中记载的第一处行走的场景。

亚当和夏娃本该很喜欢在“天起凉风的时候”与神在园子里散步。但是在今天的《创世记》第三章里，他们却显得非常焦虑。在这一天的起头，他们违背了神的命令，做了一件神禁止他们做的事。

神创造了亚当和夏娃，让他们与自己，与他人，与这地和地上的万物和睦相处。然而，因着他们的悖逆，他们试图躲避神，随着故事的发展，我们看到他们彼此分裂，也与其他一切美好的创造物疏离。

当神来邀请他们同行时，却发现亚当和夏娃羞愧得畏缩不前。神向他们说明了罪的后果。但在神对蛇的审判中，我们瞥见了神对堕落人类救赎的应许，祂将使他们恢复与自己，与他人，与世界的相交。

我在四月份徒步穿越阿巴拉契亚山脉时，发现傍晚的天气通常凉爽舒适，这使我对与神和属神子民在祂应许救赎的世界中一同行走充满了期待。

While hiking the Appalachian Trail, I enjoyed the early April wildflowers blooming along the pathway. I particularly noticed a crocus with a beautiful white flower. Sadly, its stem had broken, and it drooped sideways. It reminded me of the first walking scene in the Bible.

Adam and Eve must have enjoyed walking with God “in the cool of the day” in their garden home. But in today’s story from Genesis 3, they were deeply anxious. Earlier in the day, they had disobeyed God, doing the one thing God had told them not to do.

God had created Adam and Eve to live in fellowship with himself, with each other, and in harmony with the earth and its creatures. In their disobedience, however, they tried to hide from God, and, as the story continues, we see their alienation from each other and from the rest of God’s good creation.

When he comes to walk with them, God finds Adam and Eve cowering in shame. God explains the consequences of their sin. But in his judgment on the serpent, we glimpse God’s promise to redeem fallen humanity back to fellowship with himself, with each other, and with his world.

As I hiked through Appalachia in April, I found it was often comfortably cool late in the day, and this drew me to look forward to walking with God and all his family in the world he has promised to redeem.