“Where Are You?”
Our theme for this year focuses on conversations between God and those on earth. While they vary greatly, the timing of this one could not be better. As we begin a new year, many evaluate “where they are” – with diet, health, weight, reading scriptures, study, habits, etc. Some will make new resolutions upon the proper evaluation, understanding that they have fallen short and that they have ignored, been lazy, improperly prioritized, or deceived themselves the previous year.
When God determined to have a conversation with Adam and Eve, He had no need to “find them”; He knew where they were always. God’s question to Adam and Eve was about them finding themselves – not God finding them.
In Genesis 3, we read of the account of the first sin as it entered the world:
“The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’”
Adam and Eve had discovered, in their sin, that they had separated themselves from God, disobeying God and demanding them to self-evaluate in a way that had been unknown to them in the past. I wonder what guilt felt like to a man and woman who had never borne the burden of such a feeling before. With the understanding of their separation, they must figure out how they would deal with their Creator and God.
They hid. Perhaps, if they could just not be seen, perhaps if they could just make God pass by and go away, perhaps if they could just deceive God to think they were “not around,” then as time passed it could all be forgotten, or they could deal with it later. We may find this conversation humorous – even childlike, but if we understand the perfect relationship that Adam and Eve had enjoyed with God in the garden and the now tragic state of the realization of sin and separation, it is not amusing. This was not hide and seek; Adam and Eve were in a terrible state of decision making, and the outcome of their actions could be devastating for them. For the first time in their lives, they were forced to examine their heart – the motives of their actions, and their decision to disobey their Creator.
I think it is easy to understand this urge to get behind a tree or bush. It is not unusual for us to think that we can “wait this situation out” or ignore our transgressions until things change. It is easy to rationalize our weakness as both Adam and Eve do – as they defend and blame others for their own disobedience. Genesis 3: 12-13 says, “Then the man said, ’The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate’...The woman said, ’The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” Guilt that does not lead to repentance is a horrible state. It requires as much work as change – for we must hide, excuse, ignore, explain, and rebel each day to appease the beast. Adam and Eve are the perfect example of the ease with which we slip into a pattern of hiding and excusing.
So, as we begin our new year and God asks us “Where are you?” Will we painfully and carefully examine ourselves? And suppose we do – what choice of action do we then take? Will we be silent and quiet as we hide in the enjoyment of our sin? Will we work to ignore and dismiss the sin that separates us, reaping the rewards for a short time on earth? Will we excuse our pride, laziness, jealousy, or gossip – listing the many reasons our words and actions are necessary or justified? Will we pretend and imagine that God understands the many reasons for our inability to serve well? Aren’t all these choices just our hiding places? Doesn’t God already know where He finds us?
And so, where will we find ourselves? I pray we may all answer well.
Will we find ourselves in the pastures of our Shepherd, where there is no need to hide? “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” Psalm 23:1-3.
Will we offer ourselves for service as He walks with us each day? “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’” Isaiah 6:8.
Will we find ourselves in the paths of light? “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” I John 1:7.
Guilt is the burden of sin that affords us to “look for ourselves.” And as we know, even for Adam and Eve, hiding was not really an option with a God who already knows where you are. I think I should end this brief discussion with David’s beautiful words that firmly establish how impossible it is to hide ourselves from God, and how important it is to not try.
Psalms 139 says:
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it… Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”