Where Are You? ~ Bob Coy

Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" Genesis 3:9 (NKJV)

Why would God have to ask questions? If He's really all-seeing, if He's truly all-knowing, then wouldn't He already know the very thing He's asking about? Yes, He does. There's nothing that has ever occurred in the history of the universe that God didn't already perfectly know. Nothing eludes His attention. Nothing escapes His observation. Nothing, no nothing, evades His careful consideration.

So why did He ask Adam where he was? Listen, when God asks a question, it's never for His benefit but always for ours. His questions are intended to arrest our attention, make us stop in our mental tracks, and get us to look at life from a different angle.

In this case, Adam had just sinned for the first time. Up to that point, Adam had enjoyed an utterly guilt-free relationship with God, and everything was good. There was a righteous relationship whose fruit was favored fellowship. But once sin entered into Adam's soul, the opposite occurred. Now there was guilt, now there was shame, now there was a reason to hide from the pure and penetrating gaze of God.

"Where are you?" It was God's way of getting Adam to see the consequences of sin and to acknowledge the loss it produced. "Adam, we used to be in a free and pure relationship with one another...no secrets and no shame. Now look at you, you're hiding from me. Look what sin has done to you and to us."

At some point in our lives, God asks us the same question: "Where are you?" We never knew the life Adam once enjoyed in Eden, but we know there's something wrong in our lives. We don't know where we are, we just know we're not where we truly belong...which is in right relationship with God...and the only way to get there is through Jesus.

Discuss where you are in your relationship with God. Share with the group how you would answer God’s question to Adam.

Dig into Genesis 3:1–10. What are the significant truths you discover in this passage? Why does God ask Adam this question? What is currently keeping you from having a close connection with God?

Decide to agree with God about those things in your life that are not pleasing to Him. Confess those things to your Father in Heaven, and discover the promise provided in 1 John 1:9.