God wants to be with us

The Book of Genesis manifests a God who is deeply intimate with human beings. It is a book we can turn to when we need to be reminded God loves us.

As one example: in Genesis 2:15-25, God creates animals and brings them to Adam, giving the power to name them over to a human being.

As another: in Genesis 3:8-24, God believes Adam and Eve when they tell God why they ate the forbidden fruit, tracing Adam's excuse to Eve and Eve's excuse to the serpent. Although Adam and Eve suffer consequences for their actions, God sews clothes for them, to shield them in their embarrassment and shame, providing dignity for them and restoring them once again.

Then again, God promises to protect Cain, a man who killed his brother out of envy. Even beyond protecting him in Genesis 4:1-24, God promises to avenge him sevenfold if anyone hurts him. This is a God who is still loyal to Cain, even after Cain has committed a heinous crime.

And later in Genesis 18:16-33, God seems to struggle with the dilemma of whether or not to make God's plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah known to Abraham. God decides that, yes, God will make the plan of destruction known to Abraham as they walk together, remaining before Abraham so Abraham can draw nearer to God. God is patient with Abraham's repetitive questions about how many innocent people it will take for God to decide to preserve the cities. And the answer is much lower than Abraham imagined: if there are even 10 innocent people there, God will not destroy the city.

Still farther on in Genesis 32:23-33, we encounter a God who wrestles through the night with Jacob, a trickster who demands a blessing from God. God allows Jacob to prevail over God until God wounds him in the hip in order to get the upper hand. God then concedes to Jacob's demand for a blessing, out of respect and love and because this, after all, is what God hopes from us: that we come in faith to God asking for all of our needs, believing God can and will fulfill them. When we wrestle authentically in earnest, God's blessing will be found.

The characteristics God reveals to us in Genesis are of a God who is deeply compassionate, patient, merciful and forgiving, blessing people even when we do wrong. This is a God who gives over God's power to humans, giving us the ability to co-create with God, to walk with God, to wrestle with God.

In fact, it seems the main desire of God in Genesis is simply to be with people, in whatever form that looks like. If that means wrestling, God's up for it. If that means answering relentless questions, God's there. If that means sewing clothes, yep, you guessed it -- you'll find God with sketchbook and needle in hand. What Genesis seems to say is humans' ability to mess up is no match for the deep and relentless love, mercy and grace of a God who created us because God wants to be with us.

We are wanted, and we can live in and from that.