Where Are You?

In the Genesis account of the ‘Fall of Man’ the LORD God is entering the garden to enjoy His relationship with the man and woman. The problem was that upon entering the man and woman had made a drastic decision in disobeying God by falling into temptation. I can imagine that on a typical day, Adam and Eve would run to the LORD God and cry out “Daddy!”, maybe even embrace Him with a hug and continue to show Him all the things that they had been up to. I think it was that way because when I come home from the church or anywhere else, I hear Ethan cry out, “Daddy’s home!” as he runs to me, hugs me, and then catches me up on his daily activities or invites me to play. I’m not saying I’m God to Ethan, but I believe Adam and Eve had a child-to-father relationship with God. Adam after all is called the ‘son of God’ in the Gospel of Luke. But on this day things were different, the LORD God showed up and no one showed up to greet Him. Instead, God’s children were hiding in the bushes and God asked the question that shakes my heart every time I hear it, “Where are you?” I find it amazing that God, knowing all things, first of all asked this question. But I also find it interesting that He didn’t ask, “Where have you been?” or even “Where are you going?” God doesn’t care about those things because He already knows those things, but the question was, “Where are you?” It is a question that deals with the ‘now’. Like I already mentioned, God is all-knowing (it is one of His characteristics), so it wasn’t that He misplaced a part of His creation like we misplace our keys, it was that He knew the relationship, the perfect unity He once held with humanity, had been torn apart in a bite of temptation. Sin had separated God’s perfect creation from their perfect God. So the only question God could ask was, “Where are you?” Too many times I hear God asking me this question as I stick to my own agenda, as I covet things I don’t really need, as I misuse the name of the Lord God by my actions, as I get angry at people in traffic, as I don’t love my wife the way I should, as I look over those who are in need, and as I complain about things that are really of little importance compared to the kingdom of God. And I believe God is asking the same question to us daily as we continue in our habitual sins and we attempt to hide ourselves in the bushes. So, “Where are you?” Are you in the midst of God’s presence or are you allowing sin to separate you from a loving heavenly Father who wants nothing else but a relationship with you.