God's First Question To Man "... Where Art Thou?"....

is still being asked of every man and woman today .... "Adam, where art thou?"
You and I can put our name in the blank of God's universal question, "____ where art thou?

God had given Adam just one commandment. Adam and Eve were free do anything they chose to do ... but that one thing; for God had said, in Gen.2:15-17 ..."And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Adam, to whom God had given the commandment, and who was supposed to be the leader, became the follower .... "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Gen.3:6.   So Adam, influenced by Eve, chose to disobey God's one Commandment and thus sin entered into the soul of man and woman and through them, into their descendants, the entire human race. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1Cor.15:22.  Adam and Eve died spiritually that day, and began to die physically. Immediately after the first man and woman sinned, God came into the garden and "called" loudly to Adam's ears and heart, "Adam, where are you?" God, of course, knew exactly where Adam and Eve were hiding, but He wanted Adam to examine himself, consider his loss of fellowship with God, and confess his disobedience. Adam, already feeling guilty, should have said, Lord, here am I ... hiding my sin, hiding my nakedness, hiding my guilt ... Here am I, oh Lord, on the far side of my separation from you. Here am I my Creator ... dying spiritually in disobedience and my sin ... guilty, dirty and miserable.  But what Adam said and God heard was, (paraphrased) I heard your voice, calling my name, and was afraid and hid myself because I'm naked, Lord.  "And (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"  Did you break my one, single Commandment, that you not eat of the forbidden fruit of that one tree and now know evil from good?   It's not my fault, Lord, it's the woman YOU gave me ... she gave it to me. I never would have done it if YOU hadn't brought her into my life.   So God turned to the woman and asked her, "What have you done?" She, of course, said, Lord, it's not my fault ... that serpent YOU put in this garden, he tricked me into eating it. Eve, where are you now? .... Hiding in your sin, hiding your nakedness, hiding from your exposure and guilt. Where are you now, Eve? 

Well, friends, God is still asking sinners, guilt ridden, fearful of consequences, spiritually naked before God ... "______Where art thou?"

All He wants to hear from us, the disobedient guilty ones, is sincere confession, in prayer to Him, saying the words of the prodigal ... "I have sinned".... I'm living in disobedience, dying for forgiveness, cleansing and redemption through Jesus... who died in my place for my sins. Forgive me Lord... save me. It's not a long, complicated process. It is simple to us .... Jesus did the hard part ... on the cross. RB