“But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?'” (Genesis 3:9).
The first words God utters after the fall of Adam and Even are, “Where are you?”
“Where are you?” is an English translation of one Hebrew word, ayyekkah.
Ayyekka – where are you? – expresses the heart of the gospel story between God and us. All of the heart of God for us in the Old and the New Testaments is expressed in this one Hebrew word – Where are you?
Ayyekka – Where are you? What this question reveals about God’s heart toward sinners:
- God seeks out sinners
- Sin causes us to hide from God and his presence
- Sin causes shame and estrangement
- God searches for sinners
- While Adam and Eve go into hiding, God comes to seek them out
- God invites sinners to repent
- Repentance leads to restoration
- To have restoration the violation must be acknowledged by both the guilty and the one who forgives
- Both the one who violated the relationship and the one who forgives must mutually acknowledge that a violation has occurred and that the guilty acknowledges the violation and the one violated forgives that violation
- To merely say “Sorry” and move on cheapens forgiveness and cheapens the cost of the hurt of the party who was wronged
- God desires the restoration of sinners
- God seeks sinners, not to destroy and punish, but to restore sinners
- Acknowledgment of guilt and sin is for the purpose of forgiveness and restoration, never for the purpose of punishment and shaming
- God provides his redemption
- God arrives on the scene with a plan for salvation and restoration
- God provides Adam and Eve with garments of skin
- God provides us with his Son, the Savior of the world
Where are you? God loves you. God wants what is best for you. God knows what is best for you.
Whatever you are facing today, you are not alone. God is with you. God is seeking you out. You are never alone for God is God Emmanuel, God with us.
Praxis: Faith in Action 