"Where are you?"

Yesterday morning, I was complaining to God and asking Him why I do not hear His voice all the time. At the same time, I was also thinking about some of my friends whom I felt I ought to speak to more.

God had some words for me and them. He said three words, "Where are you?"

"Where are you?" were the words that God spoke to Adam in the Garden of Eden, after Adam sinned by eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Bible records in Genesis 3:8-9:

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

The question was more than a mere question about Adam's physical location. It was a question of where Adam was with respect to Him, or where Adam was in Him. As Skip Moen puts it in Guardian Angel, "God is asking why Adam is not where he is supposed to be - with Him." Yet, "Adam now seeks escape from the presence of God."

The passage suggests that Adam used to walk with God, more than just physically. But now Adam said, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." (Genesis 3:10)

Jesus' call of discipleship is as simple as "follow me", literally to leave all else and walk with Him.

But there were hard teachings. Once, Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Another time, He spoke about taking up the cross and denying oneself to follow Him. People left.

When Jesus asked His disciples whether they were going to leave too, Peter gave a remarkable answer in John 6:67-69:

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

So God's word for me, and for my friends who came to mind, was "Where are you?"

Is the answer, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid"?

Or is the answer, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life"?