The Lord God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? (Gen. 3:9).
This is the first question our all-knowing God asked of humanity. You might think, “He didn’t need to ask Adam that question. He knew exactly where Adam was.” So why did the author of Genesis portray God in an inquisitive manner?
The short answer is to establish God and humanity’s relationship as it pertains to the parameters of our free will and He did so with three little words.
To understand the lesson behind the story of humanity’s first sin we must examine the nature of God and man. This is the first story that depicts God as the Father of all humanity. Every loving parent and every child can relate to this story of a child having done something wrong. In the short history, told in the creation story of humanity, Adam enjoyed a face-to-face relationship with God. At no time before man and woman’s sin did God have to call out to them. The story leads us to believe that Adam was always eager to see God. As a father returning home from work; his children would run to greet him, eager to spend time with him. So, it was with Adam; that is, until things changed. Still today, when we sin, the relationship between those we sin against changes.
Think about the times your children did something wrong. Were they eager to greet you upon your return or did they hide until you called out to them? Even the youngest child does not want to face the ones they love after they hurt them. The first face-to-face confrontation is painful because it requires us to address a conflict between what we wanted verses what is right. This impetuous conflict can be found at the heart of every sin; our struggle to control our selfish nature.
When they heard the sound of the Lord God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Gen. 3:8).
What is interesting, is that the Hebrew translation is: they heard the voice of the Lord God walking. This translation would suggest that after sinning, humanity lost the ability to see God face-to-face. From that moment, our communion with God depended on the Word of God until the Word was made flesh again in the humanity of Jesus. Only Jesus could repair what was lost by Adam and Eve’s sin.
With the coming of Jesus, we once more are shown the power questions have in coordination with our free will. Jesus is the Master at answering a question with a question. In the Bible, Jesus asks three hundred and seven questions. These are examples of how God “leads us” to the places He wants us to go, things He wants us to do, and the person He wants us to be. This inquisitive method reinforces God’s relationship with our free will while guiding our thoughts to the words and actions He desires for us. Jesus, in many ways, through the gospels and in life today, ask the same question God asked Adam. “Where are you?”
If this is my last post, I want all to know there was only one purpose for all that I have written; to have made a positive difference in the lives of others.
“Inquisitio veritatis”
Anthony “Tony” Boquet, the author of “The Bloodline of Wisdom, The Awakening of a Modern Solutionary”
