Where Are You?

By Kris Won

Where are you? 

Did you know that this is the first question that appears in the Bible? It’s found in Genesis 3:9 - immediately after Adam and Eve fell into sin and recognized they were naked. So in response to their newfound nakedness, we are told that they covered themselves with fig leaves and hid as soon as they heard the sound of God walking in the garden. At that very moment, God asks the man and the woman this question:

Where are you?

Did our omniscient God not know where Adam and Eve were? Was He content to just let them play hide-and-seek with Him?  Why would God ask a rhetorical question? The passage gives us a glimpse of what God was really after and how simple yet intentional the question really is.

In verse 10, Adam responds, “I heard you in the garden, and I was AFRAID because I was naked; so I hid.” In his very honest confession before God, Adam pinpoints the root cause of his hiding. He was afraid!  Adam was able to name his emotions in the presence of God - which caused him to go into hiding. I actually give him a lot of credit for being aware of his own emotions - because this is not easy for many of us to do. 

His sense of shame caused him to be afraid, so he covered his vulnerability and hid. This is the kind of impact that fear and shame have on us - irrational behavior. They hid as if they thought they could be invisible from God!  In the same manner, our reaction to fear and shame is mostly likely to cause us to act irrationally as well.  We are mostly likely to find ourselves trying to ignore and suppress our emotions.  But because God loves us too much to simply leave us there, He engages us with an invitation - an invitation that is expressed in the form of this very question - Where are you?

In Genesis 16:8, God asks a similar question to a scared, pregnant slave girl named Hagar when she was running away from her mistress, Sarai - “where have you come from, and where are you going?”  In 1 Kings 19:9, God yet again asks a similar question - this time to the prophet Elijah while he was hiding in a cave. What are you doing here, Elijah? To which he answered, I am here because I am scared that I will be killed! 

Their situations were different but the common denominator in all of these accounts was that many of these people were found to be in a state of fear. Curt Thompson, a Christian psychiatrist, states that “when we live either in the past or in the future as our home base, we are actually trying to escape our present.” (The Soul of Desire, p. 132) Similarly, hiding, escaping, covering are signs that we are not living in the present. 

Where are you?

We learn from these biblical accounts that this question is actually a loving invitation from God to enter into an honest conversation with Him.  Despite all the layers of fear, guilt, and shame - God graciously creates a safe space for Adam and Eve to share honestly from their hearts - as we see Him doing for Elijah, Hagar, David, and yes - even us. 

So, if God were to come and ask, “Where are you?” How would you answer? Can you identify your feelings and even express them to God? Can you be as brave as Adam? Simple as Hagar? Honest as Elijah? Can you trust God with your emotions and all that is in your heart? What is your response to God’s invitation to come before Him - just as you are? 

Prayer:

May you experience our God as a safe shelter of your heart. 

May His invitation resound in your heart as a loving one. 

And may you have the courage to come before God, just as you are
and encounter the heart of a good and gentle Father, embracing you.