Questions of God: Where are you?

One of the most important places you can ever be is “here.” Remember?

There you were, bleary-eyed, just waking up, not sure really how you got here, you responded to that voice. It’s your teacher, bellowing out your name.

“Smith? Smith? I see you there, Smith, are you awake this morning?”

“Here…” you wearily reply. 

Or remember that time with your best friend. 

“Hey man…” 

He stares into space. No response. 

“I said, Hey there! Where are you man? Are you OK?”

And slowly your friend comes aware of your beckoning. 

“Uh, yeah, uh, sorry. Were you saying something?”

Close friends have these moments. Co-workers have these moments. Spouses have these moments. Sometimes the time between the question, “Are you there?” and the response there can be a span of years. One of the most painful places on the planet is the space between that pause, waiting for someone to wake up and say, “Yeah, I’m here.”

I’ve had those times. I showed up everywhere in my life; work, church, friends places, Starbuck’s. But I just wasn’t there. If you know what I’m talking about, I hope you are looking at that experience from the rear view mirror. It’s a tough place to be in… comfortably numb. But eventually you do wake up.

Then there’s that other “here” we occasionally need to know about. You’re absolutely sure you parked on the right side of the mega-mall to just pop in and get that gizmo you need, and suddenly find yourself completely lost. And so you frantically look about you, and find the big sign in the middle of the mall, the one that says, in big bold letters and that familiar arrow, “YOU ARE HERE.” You sigh in relief, as you realize you’re not as lost as you thought, and go on your way.

So there’s Adam, and Eve, hiding in the Garden. Cowering behind fig leaves because they ate that forbidden fruit, and feeling really exposed, because of that nakedness thing. 

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” – Genesis 3:8-9

Three little words, “where are you?” How simple a question. 

Ever come up on a child in the middle of doing something wrong? So you ask them, “Hey there, what are you up to? 

“Nothing.” But the look in their eyes tells the whole story. Whatever they’re doing, it’s definitely not “nothing.”  

Well, this question, “Where are you?” is probably the most important question you can answer in your whole life. God is asking you that very question. Where are you?

He’s asking that question because He wants to know. He’s asking that question because He wants to talk with you. He’s asking that question because He wants to snap you out of the zone you’re in, so you can wake up and answer Him directly, “here. I’m here.”