Adam, where are you?

 Gen 3:9

Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

As parents, we are often confronted with children who have transgressed in some way or other. And I use the word transgress deliberately, as it conveys the meaning that they knew the rules, and yet decided to disobey.

Our reaction normally depends on factors like the age of the child; the amount of sleep we have had; our stress levels on any given day! And I know through experience with my own children that there probably were a few instances in the past where our reaction was less than, shall we say, optimal? Maybe it came out as:

“What on earth have you done!”

“Did I not specifically tell you NOT to!”

“Where are your ears – why have you stopped using them?!”

But not God. We find our Heavenly Father - knowing full well how Adam and Eve have deliberately chosen to disobey His one and only negative command (not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) - walking toward them and asking: “Where are you?” Choosing to repair the relationship rather than accusing them and meting out punishment.

We see that during this whole encounter God gave them ample time to acknowledge their wrongdoing and ask Him to forgive and restore. He keeps on asking questions, (although of course He knew exactly what had happened), hoping all the while that they would respond honestly and admit that they were in the wrong. Eventually He Himself had to mention the eating from the forbidden tree, and how did they then answer Him? Both of them made excuses and blamed others for their own wrong choices!

Imagine the hurt in our Abba Father’s heart when He saw them not responding to His gesture of love - the outstretched hand of forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration of relationships. His punishment of their sin was unavoidable, as He is a righteous God, but I am sure that He gave it with a very heavy heart!

Pearls to ponder:

Let us be quick to repent and truthfully own up to our transgressions, without making excuses or compromising. This is not to somehow earn God’s favour and love – we have that already – but for our own sakes, so that we can continue to abide in our love relationship with our Heavenly Father without hindrances of our own making!

God of all my days