Where are you?
To get where you want to go you must first determine where you are at. To arrive at the desired destination will require an honest assessment of your present location. Where are you?
Long ago, God asked Adam the same question in Genesis 3:9: “Adam—where are you?” Just an FYI to tuck in your knapsack, God never asks questions to gain information. He is omniscient, which means he knows all the answers even before the questions are formulated. God asks questions so that we will stop for a moment and consider the current situation. An honest answer of this question could be the first step in the right direction on a journey that will lead you to the destination your hearts longs for. But, you will have to do the work. You will have to respond correctly.
Adam and Eve had tasted the forbidden fruit. In doing so, they disobeyed God’s expressed will—they sinned. Filled with guilt and shame, they fled from his presence, hoping to find some kind of sanctuary in the bushes. They fled from a God who is also omnipresent—everywhere present at the same time…even in the darkness of the bushes. Now they heard the footsteps of God in the garden, and dread, rather than anticipation, filled their hearts.
Those haunting words—where are you?—echoed through the garden as God came for his daily visit. He was pursuing them but they were no longer pursuing him. An intimate relationship is always a two-way street. It takes two—God and you. God will always be on time as he awaits your arrival. Where are you?
That question could easily be a statement of fact: “You’re not where you are supposed to be. Adam, we have a pre-arranged time and place to meet but you’re missing. You are not here! Where are you?” This is not an angry God with smoke billowing from his ears and lightning bolts dancing on his fingertips looking for someone to annihilate. No, this is a loving Father looking for his son and daughter who are now lost. They are absent because they have chosen something else over God. They have sacrificed relationship for knowledge.
What have you sacrificed? What have you chosen over God? What garners your attention and occupies first place in your heart, that place God designed for himself alone? No-thing—nothing can replace God. That’s why there’s emptiness there even though you are frantic in your daily pursuit of satisfaction, cramming everything you can into that ravenous cavern. It cannot be filled by anything but God. That is the source of your frustration—not your spouse, your kids, your job, or your __________ (you fill in the blank). Where are you?
That question was asked by God to enable Adam to recognize where he was and why he had ended up in his present predicament and location. The question really is: “Why are you hiding? Why are you hiding from the one Person who really loves you? Why are you hiding from the One who can meet every need you have? Why are you hiding?” Adam’s location in the bushes was his answer—“I am hiding because I don’t want to be found!” Tragically, when we hide we answer this question with the very same answer.
Adam and Eve were hiding because they did not want to be transparent with God. They were no longer willing to pay the price. Transparency reveals everything and sin hates transparency because it can only germinate and grow in darkness.
Where are you? As we get start on this journey—this pursuit of an intimate relationship with God, you must answer this question. Or…you have no place from which to begin. The confession of your present location will propel you in confidence into the destination of your dreams.
Come out of the bushes…God is here!