Where Are You?
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Genesis is the book of beginnings. The word "Genesis" means beginning. And thus, we have the beginning of the universe. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
Then we have the beginning of life forms, and the beginning of man. When we come to man, we find that he is vastly different than the other life forms God created. With the other life forms, God spoke and they existed. But God formed man out of the dust of the earth, so that man actually became God's handiwork. God may speak other creatures into existence, but there was a special molding and shaping of man by God, as He formed him after His likeness and in His image.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
There is a touch of God upon every man, even today. A definite distinction exists between the body that God formed out of the earth and the life that God imparted into that body, for man is really spirit. The spirit was formed when God breathed into that body the breath of life. The body is the dwelling place, the house, where the spirit of man lives. Created in the likeness of God, man was created with the capacity for fellowship with God.
There is something beautiful about the story in Genesis 3:8-9 where we read, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Genesis 3:8). God came down to commune with His creation. What a beautiful picture! But what a tragic picture as we continue to read,
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God... And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Gen 2:9).
Why would Adam hide from the presence of God? It was neurotic behavior, because Adam possessed a guilty conscience. How futile for Adam to try to hide himself from the presence of God!
The psalmist David understood the futility of trying to hide from God.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me" (Psalm 139:7-10). I can't escape from the presence of God. Yet whenever I feel guilty, a neurotic behavior pattern makes me think that I can hide my guilt from God.
Many people don't go to church simply because they have a guilty conscience. They figure that if they stay away from church they can hide from the presence of God, as though God dwelt in the church, as if you could just close your doors and pull the shades on God!
Paul the apostle said, "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Job 12:10 says, "In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."
You might say the only way you can escape from God is to stop breathing, but even then you don't escape from Him. You'll enter into a clearer consciousness of His presence at that moment of death. There's no escaping from God! It's crazy to think that you can.
Psychologists today tell us that most neurotic behavior patterns stem from a guilt complex. It began with Adam. He felt a consciousness of his guilt, so he tried to hide from the presence of God. What caused the guilt complex? Adam disobeyed the command of God.
Looking at the overall story, God gave Adam the commandment for his own good and welfare. God knew the poison that was in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam was deceived into thinking that God was somehow trying to hold him back from a pleasant experience, that God didn't quite understand his real needs. Adam thought that by disobeying he could find a quality of life that God was withholding from him. But in reality, God knew what He was talking about. After Adam ate of that tree, he couldn't reverse his action. He couldn't go back and be innocent. To his dismay, he discovered that God was right all along!
There are men today who, like Adam, are deceived about the law of God. They look upon God's law as being very restrictive. "God's trying to hold back something good from me. He's trying to keep me from being happy." Men today are still willing to violate the law of God, thinking that they know better than God the needs of their own lives. But then they discover that once they've violated the law of God, it's irreversible - they can't go back and undo what they've done. They realize that God was right all the time. But now they have that sense of guilt, and they try to avoid God. Worse than that, they've lost fellowship or contact with God, and their lives become dead, empty, and purposeless.
God's purpose in coming into the Garden of Eden was to restore fellowship. When God came into the Garden, Adam hid himself. God cried, "Where are you?" That wasn't the call of an arresting officer, but the heartbroken cry of a loving father whose child had gone astray.
It's wrong to assume that man doesn't know the truth about himself. Deep down inside, each of us is aware of where we are. We spend much of our lives trying to conceal the truth we know about ourselves. We'd be embarrassed if other people knew what we know about ourselves. So, we create an image for others to behold; we want them to admire us, look up to us, think well of us. We do our best to cleverly disguise the truth we know about ourselves. Sometimes we're so clever in our own deceptions that we actually deceive ourselves.
The Bible speaks about those who have deceived themselves, and the truth is not in them (I John 2:4). We actually begin to think, "Did God really say that? Well, God doesn't really care. Surely I can violate His laws, and it won't have any effect upon me. Surely I can escape the judgment of God." Man begins to deceive himself. But deep down inside he's not fooled.
Deep down inside we hear the spirit of God crying out, "Where are you?" We try so hard to hide the truth, but the truth will win out. And though we may be successful in hiding the truth from other men, we cannot hide it from ourselves. The truth has its own way of working itself out - either in some form of emotional disturbance or in neurotic behavior patterns.
The Bible says, "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13). To think that I'm hiding from God is sheer folly. So, when God's cry comes to me today "Where are you?" There are just two places I can be. I'm either in fellowship with Him, or I'm out of fellowship with Him.
God wants you to have full, rich fellowship with Him, because He knows the benefits that are yours by fellowshipping with Him. He wants you to share in his life and His glory. Instead of discarding Adam, God came to him and asked, "Where are you?" God doesn't forsake you and say, "Well, he had his chance." God comes to you and says, "Where are you?" - so that you might see yourself and evaluate yourself. As the Scripture said, "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged of God" (I Corinthians 11:31). Therefore, let each man examine himself.
"Where are you?" With Adam, his sin had created a breach. It separated him from God. So, we have the beginnings of sin and the beginning of man's alienation from God. Sin always alienates a man from God. Isaiah the prophet declared, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated you and your God (Isaiah 59:1-2).
The effect of sin in man's life is always broken fellowship and alienation from God. Since God seeks to restore you, he has made provision for your sins. That which Adam lost in the Garden, that life and fellowship of God, has been restored to you through faith in Jesus Christ.
"Where are you?" You know the answer better than anybody else. But you don't have to remain where you are. You can find forgiveness. God has made possible the reversal of past actions He had made the elimination of past guilt possible. God has made such a total provision for forgiveness that the past is removed as though it never existed - in order that you might know the glory, blessing, and joy of fellowship with God.
"Adam, where are you?" Where are you today? Are you walking in harmony and in fellowship with God, or do you find yourself alienated from that life of God?
A life that is out of fellowship with God is out of harmony with its own nature, because God has created you for fellowship. There is a natural restlessness in that man who's apart from God. The Bible says, The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked (Isaiah 57:20-21).
Yet, rest for your soul is exactly what Jesus has promised for you, if you would come to Him. He said, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:29-30).
Your mind is troubled by your life and the world around you. The turmoil that you see in our society has created the inner turmoil. "What's it all coming to? What should I do? How can I escape all these problems?"
There is a place of refuge, a place of strength, a place of fellowship with God. Though the worlds are moved around me, though the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea, I need not fear - because God is with me, His presence, His power, His love. He will protect, guide, and sustain me.
Are you walking in fellowship with God today, or are you trying to hide from God? If you're trying to hide from God, it's sheer folly! You're doomed to failure. You'll never hide from Him. Better that you open up your life and heart to God, and find the forgiveness of your sins and the restoring of fellowship with Him, for you and your family's sake.
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