Toward evening they heard the Lord God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees. The Lord God called to Adam, "Where are you?"
Genesis 3:8-9
“Where are you?” It’s the first question asked in Scripture. And it was asked of the only man alive…who was in hiding. On the surface this seems like a humorous question doesn’t it? I mean, after all, this is God. Of course, God knows where Adam is, nobody can hide from God. The thing about God’s question was that he wasn’t asking in regard to Adam’s physical location. He wasn’t physically lost…he was spiritually lost. Where are you Adam? It’s almost as if you can hear the pain in God’s voice. In my mind I picture God as the loving Father with his arms open wide asking, “Where are you, why have you strayed? I did everything that I could to provide you with a home, a wife, everything that you would need I gave to you. Where are you Adam?” You get a feeling that there is almost a longing for what used to be. And it’s true because the closeness that once existed in their relationship has now been broken.
Some of you have asked the very same question, haven’t you? You’ve asked it of your spouse as you’ve come to a place in your marriage where you feel like he or she isn’t the same person that you once knew. There is a distance now that has replaced the connection you once had. Either out loud or in your head you’ve asked the question, “Where are You.?”
You’ve asked it of your children. Your own flesh and blood that you were once so close to have now completely refused your authority. They have left your house, your care, and you’re the one standing with open arms asking the question, “Where are you?”
Although there are many lessons to learn from this passage the one that I have been wrestling with the most is trying to learn from my mistakes. After Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and their innocence lost they were overcome with embarrassment and shame. Author and speaker Dr. Brene Brown says that, “Shame erodes our courage and fuels disengagement.” We see that with Adam and Eve. The normalcy of their daily communion with God has now been replaced with disengagement. They are running; they are hiding. And the last thing that they want to do is talk to God.
It’s important to remember that there is a difference between guilt and shame. Oftentimes we equate them as being the same, they are not. Dr. Brown helps us understand the difference:
“I believe that guilt is adaptive and helpful – it’s holding something we’ve done or failed to do up against our values and feeling psychological discomfort. I define shame as the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging – something we’ve experienced, done, ore failed to do makes us unworthy of connection.”
Adam and Eve felt that they were no longer worthy of connection with God. Intimacy with the Creator had been lost. As they became aware of their sin the first thing that they did was to hide their bodies with fig leaves. The courage and confidence that they once had in their relationship with God, has now been replaced with fear and embarrassment…and they find themselves hiding in the bushes. I can relate to this. I have been in their shoes; wanting to hide from some stupid thing that I have done. It’s hard to own up when you mess up isn’t it? I can’t tell you how many times I have done something that I didn’t want anyone to know about? All of us have. Adam and Eve knew that they had messed up and they couldn’t run far enough away from God. One of my favorite authors is Henri Nouwen. He says this about hiding:
“The farther I run away from the place where God dwells, the less I am able to hear the voice that calls me the Beloved, and the less I hear that voice, the more entangled I become in the manipulations and power games of the world.”
Return of the Prodigal Son
Here is the good news!
God is always in pursuit of the lost. I think one of the interesting things about this passage is that God was out walking. He was out walking looking for his creation. This provides a beautiful illustration for us because no matter where you are at in life, no matter what you have done; God is looking for you, God is pursuing you.
God in pursuit IS the story of God. From the very beginning of the Scriptures until the very end, what is portrayed is a love story with God as the pursuer. The question, “Where are you” is a question asked by someone who is pursuing.
- When Moses was running he ran right into a burning bush.
- When Jonah was running he ran right into the mouth of a gaping fish.
- If a sheep is lost Jesus tells us that the shepherd leaves the 99 behind to go in pursuit of the one that is lost.
- When the Prodigal Son decides to come home his daddy, who had spent countless days scanning the horizon for his son, upon seeing him runs after him and proclaims, “This son of mine was lost but is now found.”
- Jesus tells us his purpose for coming to earth was to seek and save the lost.
He also tells us in the book of John:
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” John 15:16
Again, in John, Jesus says:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” John 6:44
And then finally:
“We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
I hope that you’re getting the picture, God pursues you because he loves you?
So, where are you? It’s a question that requires examination and it’s intensely personal. Only you know where you are in your relationship with God. You and I can put on our happy church faces as much as we want; we can project to others that we have our stuff together but only you really know. Rabbi Marc Gellman says:
“God did not need to ask Adam where he was, it was Adam who needed to be asked; and God does not need to ask each one of us, it is we who need to be asked. The High Holy Days are the time when we are asked by God together and alone to admit for good and ill where we are, to render a spiritual accounting not of our careers but our compassion, not of our wealth but our wisdom, not of our gains but our gifts, not of our physical fitness but of the fitness of our souls.”
So, where are you?
https://brenebrown.com/blog/2013/01/14/shame-v-guilt/