The presence of God is undoubtedly the best place for man to be.
Enjoying God’s presence in life is what man was made for. We are made with a capacity
to communicate with God and to have fellowship with Him. He made us in His
image and likeness for His own pleasure. And His greatest pleasure is when we willingly
delight in Him. That’s why the Psalmist said, “If we delight in the Lord, He
will grant us the desire of our hearts.” It is understandable then that Genesis
3:8 shows us God coming to the garden looking for man. He wanted to commune
with him. So in the cool of the day, He came to the garden, where the man was. Unfortunately,
because of disobedience, man was driven to hide himself from God’s presence. He
had just disobeyed God, and the awful feeling of guilt brought about by his
disobedience drove him into hiding. Man, without the help of God, would deal
with his guilt by hiding, denying and justifying his wrong. Guilt always makes
us fearful to confront the wrong and face up to the truth. Hence, fallen man is
forever playing a game of hide and seek with God, always pushing the
blame.
Yet despite the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God came looking for
fellowship with them. Even though He obviously knew the exact condition they
were in, God never denies Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13 tells us that even “If we are
faithless, He (God) remains faithful, for He (God) cannot deny
Himself.” He will never deviate from the purpose He had made man for. Did
God know that Adam had disobeyed Him? The answer is obvious. Being the
all-knowing God, it won’t make sense if He doesn’t. Then why did God come to
man? He still desires to fulfil His purpose He had for man. Although man had
fallen, God still came to him. He came bringing the remedy to man’s
disobedience, so that relationship with Him could be restored. He did all He
could to help man to undo the mess. Why? Because He values our fellowship. And that
can only be restored when our relationship with Him is restored. That’s the
reason for Calvary.
Although man was caught in the mire of sin, God still wanted him
to deal with it. God would rather that man own up to the wrong and correct it, rather
than live a life of hypocrisy and pretension. Nothing escapes His sight. He is still
looking for honesty in us, man. He doesn’t want us to hide from Him but to face
up to our wrong. The wonders of it all is that God never starts with
accusation. He starts by helping us to see how far we have fallen. This is seen
in the first question he asked of the fallen man. He called out to the man by
asking “Where are you?” This is both a searching yet personal question. It is not
a suggestion that God was not aware of where the man was. It’s a question to
help man to evaluate himself and come to terms with his condition. God would
rather that we reflect and identify where we have fallen and come clean with
Him. This was what He did with Adam and this is how He will deal with us.
In these two verses, we see the intensity of God’s love for
mankind. He initiates the move towards man. As He had initiated the movement
toward Adam, He initiated His move towards us in Christ Jesus. Paul aptly puts
it this way: “God commended His love towards us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.” This is the intensity of His love for us! But in these two verses, we also see the
tendency of fallen man. While owning up is the first step to amend the wrong,
man would rather hide from the truth. Much like Adam and Eve, our tendency often
is to hide from His presence, deny the truth and pretend as if it we are still
fine. The question God asked our first parents would be the same question He
will ask us today. “Where are you?” To love God and to please Him in life, this
question should be seen in the context of our walk with Him. How far are we in
our journey with Him? Are there still areas that obstruct and keep us from
journeying further and deeper with Him? We can only begin to change when we are
aware of our own flaws. So where are we now spiritually speaking? No matter how
long it will take for us to come to the answer, it is needful. The Lord is
still seeking an honest answer from us so that changes can then kick in. “Where
are you?”
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