Where Are You?

“Where are you?”

This phrase is often used in ways of finding people or knowing when they will arrive. A few weeks ago, Kaylee was traveling down from Iowa to move back to the apartment. On her way down, I had called her and the first thing out of my mouth was “Where are you”. I did this in hope that I could plan for her arrival or help her if she was lost. You know men always know exactly where to turn. Yet, when we take this phrase to the bible there seems to be different meanings added into this phrase. Like in the story of Adam and Eve. To set the scene, we are in the Garden of Eden. The serpent successfully tempted Eve and Adam into eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. They both looked at each other, then hear a voice. They both ran and hid afraid for they were naked, and God cannot see them naked that is so indecent right? Well, what was God’s point of view

“Adam, where are you?”

(Genesis 3:9)

God had come to the garden after Adam and Eve had eaten of the fruit and for the first time Adam was not there in the midst of the Garden. Now, we understand that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all places. God is the only entity able to do all these things. So, when he came to the Garden and called out “Adam, where are you?” God knew exactly where he was, so why did God call to Adam?

God in God’s infinite mercy was calling for Adam to own up to the mistake. God was wanting Adam to walk out of the bush and say (Genesis 3:10). This calling out for Adam was not to find Adam, but rather for God to come and find God again. When we sin, we tend to look away from God. We go into this sense of shame that makes us hide our face so that we cannot see God, much like a child who has the logic “I can’t see you, so you can’t see me.” Yet, when this happens we take our eyes of the path that we are supposed to be treading.

I like to say that our lives are a continuous walk. We are constantly moving forward and the only being able to stop and stand still is God. When we are ignorant to salvation, we are constantly walking around in darkness and it seems to be going in circle. Then we see the Light that God offers and find that there is a path that goes somewhere. We begin to walk down that path, some faster than others, but at times we hide our face from the light for we have sinned again and are continuing to do so. When this happens, we stop looking at the light source and begin to walk in shame that starts to circle again. God sits back and waits for you, but in that time, God calls out for us. Asking us where we are. This is not a sense of loss, but a sense of self-evaluation.

“Where were you when I?”

(Job 38:1-4)

I like to call Job my hero. His level of Faith is astounding considering the circumstances that he went through. Even Peter when he was walking out to meet Jesus on the sea lost faith and Jesus was merely feet away from him. Yet, when Job approached God about the situation it wasn’t the questioning that Job got in trouble for. (Read the passage). Job was chastised for the ignorance that he had when asking God questions. Job was considered one of the Godliest men of his time. His friends came to him seeking counsel and you can tell they need it when your read what they told him to do. You see, Job had an issue with a syndrome of Know-it-allism. When it came to God, Job had this mentality that he should know everything and how dare there be something that Job doesn’t know. I bet you know a Christian like this?

Going through Bible College, it seemed to be a challenge to know the most about God. I had men and women I studied with come up to me and seem to challenge me on how much I really know about God. I could tell you about the men I served with on ministry teams who thought that I should just step back and let them run everything since I obviously did not know what the guys on my floor needed. I could tell you about the times I was hushed because my idea did not match up with the group idea. I could tell you of the times I was so pompous that I thought that I was the only person who must know God since I was the one carrying around the King James Bible. When we approach God or God’s creation we must remember that we do not know everything there is to know about God. We have the Word of God that gives us much information about the Creator, yet do we know what the Creator looks like in detail? Do we know what it was like to sit at the foot of the Cross as our Savior was crucified? Do we know what it was like to see God’s heart break as Adam and Eve took from the tree? Finally, do you know what it is like to have to look upon creation, something that was so meticulously made, something that was placed into existence for a reason, and must allow for Death to enter into the world due to one man and woman?

We cannot stand with ignorance and think that what I know 100% of there is to know for we were not there when the foundations of the Earth were laid.

“Lord, where were you?”

(John 11:17-44)

This thought has come across my mind a lot. There are plenty of places where we begin to feel hopeless. We watch as a brother or sister, father or mother begins to pass away. We watch as sickness takes them or as age takes them and we begin to say that one phrase “Lord, where were you?” We see in the book of John where Martha begins to say something like this. (Begin to read passage).

I like to picture this as if Martha is on a park bench overlooking the grave where they laid Lazarus. She is so distraught that everyone else has left her be to allow her to rampage a bit. Then Jesus walks over, sits on the bench, and tries to talk to her. Martha just starts to blame Jesus for everything. “If you were here, if you would have come when I needed you, if you would have just decided that maybe your people were more important than those who you were ministering to. Maybe Lazarus would still be here.” Jesus just sits back and takes it all in. He weeps with Martha over the loss of Lazarus but begins to do one more thing. “Martha, let me show you what I can do with this pain.” Jesus stands up and yells “Hey Lazarus, come out!” Martha was probably sitting there looking at Jesus as if he was insane. Lazarus has been dead for four days, what does Jesus think He is doing? Next think Martha sees is her brother. She sees him stand up and walk out of the grave in which she had placed him. She watched as he was breathing. She watched amazed in what Jesus has done. Then it dawns on her, that was Jesus she just yelled at.

You see when we are in the darkness of life we often begin to cry out and blame God or make the statement “well if you were here maybe _____ wouldn’t have happened.” We see that in this moment with Mary and Martha that God truly showed up. Have you ever been so angry with God over something that you thought God would take care of? Ever just find yourself in utter darkness and not know how to get out? Ever feel as though of all times for God to do so, God abandoned you now? What we don’t realize is that God isn’t sitting there waiting to beat us up. God never abandoned us. God just wanted you to see something even more miraculous. You see humanity has a funny way of thinking. Water to us seems like a basic thing to have and of no real issue to find, but then you are trapped on a desert island and water becomes as gold. We do not realize how amazing God is sometimes and God likes to look at us in the midst of our pains and go “Just watch what I can do.” Simply when we hurt or during tragedy, God has the opportunity to shine in our life, because the rest of the time we put him on the back burner. No, God doesn’t put us in these bad situations, God is not the author of Evil. God just realizes that at that moment when you are looking at God and so angry with God, that God can show you the true majesty that is God’s will.