Where are You?

Adam and Eve had it made.

They had everything they needed.

But that wasn’t good enough.

If Satan hadn’t been in the picture, it would have been easier to do the right thing, but, he was, and he made them imagine beyond their needs to their wants.

His tactics really haven’t changed. He’s still tempting us to pursue things beyond our needs.

What happens then is, our wants start controlling our lives.

Sometimes, our wants are wholesome; sometimes they’re illegal and immoral. Doesn’t matter which they are, they still control our time, thoughts, money, and behavior.

Adam and Eve didn’t care if they pursued a want and got it, that is, until they heard God walking through the Garden. Then, they did what everyone feels like doing when their mistakes catch up with them; they ran away and hid. (As if that was going to change anything)

In the lushness of the Garden, God called out the most far-reaching, deeply-challenging, important question of all time, “Where are you?”

It wasn’t because he couldn’t find them or didn’t know where they were that God asked the question. It was because he wanted his creation to pause and take stock of where they were as far as their relationship with him was concerned, to consider the choices they’d made and what the consequences would be, and to come to him and talk with him about what had happened.

“Where are you?”

Do you ever hear that question echoing
in your head?
in your heart?
in your soul?

I wish I could make the world stop for sixty seconds so everyone would be shocked into looking at where they are and asking themselves if where they are is where they want to be and if where they’re heading is where they want to go.

Of course, I can’t make that happen, but at least you’ve paused and read this.

Maybe it’s time for you to go to Him and talk about what happened.

*Taken from The Wit and Wisdom of David Johnson, Volume 1: I Didn’t Know Donkeys Could Laugh.