Where Are You?

• Bible
• Church
• Creation
• Forgiveness
• Gospel
• New Testament
• Old Testament
• Tom Durst

Jun 7, 2014 2269

by Tom Durst

Genesis 3:8-10 Common English Bible (CEB)

8 During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. 9 The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 The man replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Luke 19:10 English Standard Version (ESV)

10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

When Adam and Eve tried to hide from God because of their sense of separation and shame after eating the forbidden fruit God took the initiative and went in search of them. That whole theme of a Savior in search of man is central to our Christian faith. Jesus affirmed this when He pointed out that He had come “to seek and to save the lost.”

We don’t seek after God and never would if we were left to ourselves for we are “dead in trespasses and sins, without God and without hope.” The seeking Savior goes in search of His lost sheep. Even after we come to Him we make mistakes and sometimes our feet stray from the fold but we are not left to fend for ourselves. Our Savior is always with us to very gently place us back on the path once again. He doesn’t lay guilt upon us because of our humanness and so we shouldn’t lay guilt on ourselves or others either.

The Christian lives by the forgiveness of sins, not just at the beginning of the journey, but at every step of the way. The Bible is full of precious promises about this and we need to remind ourselves of them often, especially when we feel a bit downhearted over our imperfections and shortcomings. In the church where I attend we always begin the service with a prayer of “confession and forgiveness” which I really appreciate for it reminds me that I constantly need a Savior.

“The whole meaning of prayer is that we may know God.” ― Oswald Chambers

Tom Durst

Used with permission from the Union with God Devotional Forum.