May your day be filled with the immeasurable love and grace of your heavenly Father! 😊

Have you ever considered the first question that God asked Adam after he had fallen? God asked him, “Adam, where are you?” That’s an interesting question and one we all need to answer because we all tend to hide from God when we have fallen. The Lord obviously knew where Adam was, the question was not asked for God’s sake, it was asked by God for Adam’s sake.

Note that the issue was not that Adam had fallen, but where he was hiding himself. They felt ashamed and unworthy to face God in the condition that they now found themselves. They deliberately hid themselves from God and covered up their nakedness with their own solution to their problem. Neither of these actions, however, would be sufficient to enable them to stand before God. They were going to need a lot more than their own effort to stand before the holiness of the Lord.

But why did God ask them where they were? He could have asked a hundred different questions, yet this is the one He chose. Why? What is His reasoning and purpose behind asking this question? And this is also the only question the Lord will ask you when you are trying to hide from Him because you feel guilty and ashamed for something you did.

The question He asked them caused them to have to come out of their hiding place. They had to come and stand before Him in the condition that they were, which was nakedness. They were no longer clothed in the glory, the light, in which He had created them. Their conscience now caused them to look at themselves instead of God. God’s intent was to draw them out of their own sin consciousness and back to Him. His goal was for them to look at Him and to trust in His love and mercy.

However, instead of acknowledging their fault and His gracious character, they began defending themselves by blaming someone else. Sometimes it is hard to acknowledge that you are the only guilty party, whether you are Adam or Eve, regardless of how you ended up in the mess you find yourself in. God did not ask them, “How did you get into this mess?” He asked, “Where are YOU!” The emphasis is on YOU and not the person you feel is partly or wholly responsible for your sin. There is only one person the Lord is looking at, and that is YOU.

The question “Where are you?” is also an invitation to “Come to Me!” God knew the problem and He knew the solution. The solution was to COME TO HIM which was not COME AND STAND BEFORE ME SO I CAN PUNISH YOU, but “Come to Me so that I can forgive you, and cleanse you, and heal you, and restore you.” It was an invitation to acknowledge their fault and become totally dependent upon Him for the solution to their problem.

Sadly, they turned that down and chose to rather blame someone else. It was their unwillingness to take responsibility for the sin, and to rather blame another, that released the river of death into their future. God, in His mercy, still chose to work with them, but would have to bring salvation and deliverance through ONE who would willingly choose to take responsibility for sin. Jesus chose to do this and instead of blaming us for our sin, He took responsibility for it by taking our blame upon Himself. What a gracious Saviour we have.

However, today, in Christ, even though we have been made righteous and holy and sinless in His presence, Christians still choose to come before God blaming someone else, in some cases God Himself, and so perpetuate the river of sin and death in their lives. It is only when a person is willing to forsake all else and take sole responsibility for their actions and situations before God, that God is able to release the river of His life, favour, forgiveness and abundance into their world.

This is what true forgiveness looks like. Forgiveness removes the blame from another, even though they may have been guilty, and takes responsibility for their actions before God, becoming fully dependent upon the mercy of God in total abandonment. In this place is life and from here the river of life will flow into every area in your heart and soul and life, producing a harvest of abundant righteousness, peace and joy between you and the Father.

“Where are YOU?”

Have a blissful day in His grace! 😊