The Bible is a book of answers. In its inspired pages we find the answers to life’s questions. How can we know God? What is right, and what is wrong? How do we find forgiveness? ... peace? ... freedom? The Bible contains God’s answers to mankind’s questions.
But the Bible also contains many thought-provoking questions.
The Philippian Jailer asked a question. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30, CSB).
Micah pondered God’s law... “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8, ESV).
After Isaiah saw the Lord, high and holy, God asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8, ESV).
This week let’s consider these and a few more... let’s start in the beginning.
The first question in the Bible is a question straight from the lying lips of the Devil. It was a question intended to create doubt. “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden?’ ” (Genesis 3:1, CSB). You know the story. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, ate the forbidden fruit, and were suddenly aware of their nakedness.
At about this point in the story God asked His first question. “The LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ ” (Genesis 3:9, ESV).
God wasn’t playing hide-and-seek. God is omniscient. He knew, so He didn’t need to ask... but He did ask! And maybe He’s still asking... maybe He’s asking us today.
Where are you? Where’s your heart? What is your state of mind? Are we rebellious? Are we religious? Or, are we repentant?
We see each of these (rebellion, religion, and repentance) in the third chapter of Genesis, and I see them in my own life. For a time, Adam and Eve rebelled against God and openly defied Him. They chose their own comfort, their own ambition, and their own pleasure. To heck with God and His rules!
Then, recognizing their nakedness, they sewed together fig leaves to cover their shame and to make themselves presentable before God. Religion is what man does to make himself presentable to God. (Christianity is different. Christianity is what God has graciously done for man.) I’ve never sewed fig leaves, but I’ve worked diligently to impress God!
Lastly, we see God’s act of redemption, and we see Adam and Eve’s repentant hearts. “The LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21, ESV). God offered the sacrifice necessary to cover their sin. Adam and Eve allowed God’s grace to cover them.
God knows right where we are! He always knows! But today, I sense that He is asking a question worthy of our consideration. “Where are you?”
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