Where Are You?

Isn’t it true that often we are present but not really present? Husband and wife sitting together enjoying a quiet night at home. They are having an enjoyable conversation yet one of them is actually far away, preoccupied with something else. How often have you seen a couple sitting in a restaurant with one or both constantly scrolling through stuff on their cell phones, rarely looking at one another, let alone having a meaningful conversation. Maybe you are one of those people?

We, or at least me, so often have so many things speeding though our minds that keep us from really being present in the moment. In those times, we are there but not there. In those times, we are in close proximity to someone but distant in attention given to them. Sadly, I am guilty of that more often than I would like to admit. My wife would be justified in asking me, “Where are you?”  

Actually, “in close proximity” really seems to be redundant. Is there any other proximity other than close?

I believe if we are honest, the same can sometimes be said of our quiet times with God. I will make it personal. I sit down in my comfortable chair and open my Bible along with that day’s devotional materials. Or maybe instead of devotional time, it is simply a time of quietness and reflection. With so much clutter occupying space in my heart and mind, I am present (in that particular space) with God but not really present (undivided attention) with Him. I wonder if in those moments, He is too might be asking me, “Where are you?”

In the opening pages of the Bible, in Genesis 3, we find the story of God asking that very question. Here is what we read in verses 8 and 9 – “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”

Adam and the woman (she had not yet been named Eve) had just eaten the forbidden fruit, causing them to go into hiding. I just love the image of God “walking in the garden in the cool of the day;” literally, in the early evening as a breeze was blowing through the garden. To me, the apparent tone of this passage implies that this was a regular thing; the three of them intimately walking together every evening. But on this particular evening, they failed to show up, they failed to be present, causing God to ask, “Where are you?” I do not see this question as coming from an angry God, but rather, being saddened by their absence as He walked through the cool garden, damp grass under his feet, birds chirping, a gentle breeze cooling his face.

So, today, as He asked on that evening in the garden, is God asking you the same question – Where are you? Are you present but not really?

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