#21 - Where are You? {Reflections}

What is up everybody?

Ryan here and I am back at it in Mike's Beats Laboratory and Mike is back.

What's happening, mike, we are today.

I wanted to talk to you guys about this question that I find in the book of Genesis, and it's one of the most profound existential, and by that I mean like it speaks to the experience of what it means to be a human being in a way like not many other stories or questions do, and I love it.

And the ancients kind of went crazy about this question that is asked.

It's God who asked this question, but the ancients and the sages would kind of bat this around like what did God mean exactly when he asked this question?

So I want to pose it to you.

But here's the story.

So in Genesis 3 we know in Genesis 1 and 2 that God creates the world and fills it.

He makes all these places and spaces and he fills them, and of course, he fills them with humans Adam and Eve are the names of these first humans and then God puts them in this garden to enjoy it and to be plentiful and bountiful and to enjoy his company, and then, of course, adam and Eve do the one thing they're not supposed to do.

God tells them don't eat of that tree.

It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

You can eat from any other tree in the whole garden, but don't eat from that one.

And they do it anyway.

In many ways they kind of take that seat of power or of like they try to be the gods of their own lives.

There's a lot you can unpack there as well, but and there are consequences but almost immediately they hide from God.

And this is so profound to me because I think, even as kids, we all do this.

For, like, when we do something we know is wrong and, by the way, god gives them this command, but there's no law yet, god has not given the tablets yet, there's no 10 commandments, but we do this as humans.

We tend to hide when we think we're going to be in trouble or when we've broken some kind of a law.

That is sort of a law written in our hearts or just any kind of law.

We tend to hide.

So they hide from God.

And then God shows up, as God often does right, and God asks them this question.

God simply says to them where are you?

And I love it because it's like what do you mean, where am I?

Did God not know where they were?

God is everywhere and God knows all things.

God certainly watched this whole thing play out and go down.

He watched them go and hide and he knows everything.

You can't hide from God, you literally can't hide from God.

And so the question is really it's kind of funny, like what does he mean?

And the sages would ask, like what did God?

Of course God knows all things, he knows where Adam is.

When he asked him that, what does he mean?

And I think he's really asking a deeper question, not where are you geographically or where are you literally, did you hide behind that tree or that bush over there?

Rather, it is an existential question like Adam, where are you and where did you go?

And I think a couple of things are happening.

He's wanting to know what happened.

Where did Adam's heart go off the path?

Where did Adam's mind, his thoughts, where did they take him and where is he now?

And also what sort of happened that made him or catalyzed him or caused him to kind of distrust in the love and providence of God.

And then also, I think there's this question too.

It's sort of asking like the question behind the question is also this what are you going to do now, like Adam?

What are we going to do now?

How are you going to handle this new reality that you've kind of chosen for yourself and for even?

Are you going to keep hiding?

Are you going to remain hidden behind that bush in shame and guilt, or can you come back out and let's step into a new future?

I love this.

Kent Dobson, who's a good friend of mine now and has his own commentary on the scriptures, and he writes this in his commentary.

He says God seeks out those who are hiding among the trees in shame, who have patched together clothing of their own making, who are afraid of God, and he walks among the garden seeking to restore relationship.

He isn't distant, somewhere in heaven with his arms full that he's present and seeking and asking where are you?

Because this story about Adam and Eve is also a story about us and our own sin.

We all eat from the tree every day, probably, and I believe that God comes to us and asks us the same question when are you?

Where has your heart led you today and what are the things that have happened inside of you and your thoughts or your emotions or your will or whatever that has kind of caused you to do these things.

And also, what are we going to do now?

And God isn't looming over us with a baseball bat or his arms folded, distant, but he's there, calling us into the future, into a place of healing and restoration, to restore us in the deepest way possible as a human being.

So I love that.

May you know that God is present with you today and may you hear the whisper of God who asks us, not with shame or with you know, with just sort of like this angry tub of only with love.

He asks you where are you and what are we going to do now?

All right, love you guys, peace out.

Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share with some friends.

And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 830, which is our local gathering, or 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clclriverorg.

Peace.