Where are you?

But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"

Genesis 3.9

God didn't need to know where man was, he already knew. It was man who needed to be made aware. It was man who needed to realise that he was in fact hiding from God. That he had chosen to disobey him and was now trying to escape the consequences. We need to constantly ask ourselves the same question, "where are you?"

When it comes to standing before God, where am I?

Am I hiding from him? From the consequences of my sin, from the responsibilities i'm given, from the times I wish to forget?

God gives us the chance to confess. The chance to see our state before him and than the chance to accept his forgiveness and make things right.

It is a question that bleeds love from every pore. A question that plumbs the very depths of mans being and demands an honest answer. And yet we needn't fear the answer. Yes we might know shame and guilt, but through his sacrifice we need not know fear. If our answer is "I'm hiding" his response invites us into the open. If our answer is "I'm running away" his response invites us home. If our answer is "I'm nowhere" his response invites us somewhere. If our answer is "I just don't know" his response is, "I do, now trust me!"