"Where are you?"

DEVOTION

GENESIS

“WHERE ARE YOU?”

Gen 3:8-9

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

NIV

So now they felt shame because they knew the difference between good and evil. They had eaten from the one tree they were not supposed to have tasted the fruit. One simple command and they blew it. Had they not eaten from that tree we would never know evil. We would not have to deal with our own evil desires. But here it is, they did eat, they felt guilty, they felt shame, they covered the intimate portions of their bodies. Then they hear God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. They knew what God looked like. This must not have been the first time he had walked in the garden in the cool of the day because they know the sound he made as he was walking. They were familiar with God. This is the reason he created them, to have fellowship with them. He wanted to walk and talk with them, teach them about all the world he had created for them. We know that be brought all the wild life and livestock and birds of the air to Adam so he could give them all names. He wanted to spend time with his creation. So here he is walking in the garden looking to spend time with the man and the woman. This does make us wonder as to what form God took when he walked in the garden. Was he as we know Jesus is? Was he God in the flesh? We know that Jesus was always there from the beginning, as the Spirit was. We are told that everything that was made was made by the person we know as Jesus.

John 1:1-5

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

NIV

Was it Jesus who walked in the garden? Was it the Father, himself? We know the Father spoke directly to Moses and wrote the tablets with his finger, and passed by Moses as he hide him in the cleft of a rock and put his hand over him until he had passed because no one could see the face of God and live. Yet Adam must have not only seen him, but walked and talked with him in the closet of relationships. But now they hide from God because of their shame and guilt. Do we actually think God did not know where they were? That would be foolish to think God could not find them, he knows all things, he sees us at all times, he knows the number of hairs on our head. There is nothing about us that God is not aware of. Yet he calls out to them, “Where are you?” This is the question that should be in the forefront of our thoughts. Where are we? What is our position? Are we trying to hide from God because of our shame? Why do we have any shame in the first place? Didn’t Jesus die for our sin, our guilt and shame?

Rom 7:21-8:4

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 8

8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,   2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,   4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

NIV

This is where we are, we are in Christ, and we live according to the Spirit. Yes, there is still a war that wages within us. We want to do good, but evil is right there with us. In our inner being we delight in God, but in our bodies we see another law at work. When we read that whole portion written to the Romans we understand exactly where we are. We are free from the law that brings death. There is no condemnation for us. We are not condemned to die, we are able to live forever. When God asks us, “Where are you?” we do not have to hide somewhere in the world, we can answer, “We are in Christ”.  We need not feel any more shame, we do not have to cover ourselves from God. We can once again walk and talk with him, be in a close and right relationship with him, feeling his love, compassion, direction in and for our lives. We can listen to him as he teaches us the truth about what he created for us here on the earth and what he has created for us in the future earth. We can be free and open with our maker, for we are not hiding, we are in Christ. We do not have to fear when we hear him call, “Where are you?”