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Sunday, October 13, 2013

You Can't Hide from God

How many of us have played peek-a-boo with a child? We hide our own eyes, uncover them and exclaim, "I see you!" The children must think we are morons. Do we really believe that we don't know where they are simply because we have covered our eyes? No, I think they just enjoy laughing at us.

Somehow Adam must have believed that God played peek-a-boo. He sinned, lost his innocence and tried to hide from God. Did he really think God didn't know where he was? But God asks him three questions which revealed where he was.

"Where are you?" Of course, God knew where Adam was but this is a question that Adam had to answer. He came out of his hiding place to reveal his presence. He told where he was. He was naked. This revealed where he was. It is always important that we answer this question. We can try to hide by putting our distance from God out of our minds or by denying we have gone anywhere. But this question, when answered honestly will either bring us to repentance or cause us to run rather than hide from God.

Once I got lost looking for an address. This was before GPS's and I had no idea where I was. I had a cell phone but knew I couldn't ask anyone for directions to where I was going until they knew where I was. I had to get these bearings first. Only then could I call someone and ask for directions.

"Who told you that you were naked?" No one could have told Adam that he was naked except Adam. This should have brought Adam to conviction. In fact, it made Adam squirm so much that he blamed God for what he had done. This question is pointed to who is at fault in sin. Adam missed the question but we mustn't. The road to repentance must include an admission of sin.

So many times I have heard a man tell me the reason for his affair had something to do with how his wife treated him or his lack of interest in her or how he she wasn't taking care of herself physically or - you get the point. He says he wants to repair his marriage but he won't admit who is really at fault. He can't take the right road back until he is willing to admit that he got himself on the wrong road. Admitting it was wrong is not enough. He has to admit that he made it wrong.

"Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat?" God knows the answer but Adam needs to say what he has done wrong. This is what the word confess actually means. It is not telling God something that He doesn't know. It is admitting to God that we have done what He told us not to do. It is another place that Adam would try to hide in. He knows that God knows at this point. He must say what he has done.

"I was wrong." Are these the three hardest words to say in all the universe? How many marriages would be healed if these words were said more often? How many jails would be empty if people would have said these words much earlier in their lives? How many churches would be full if people would admit their sins and come home to God. These are the words that the Prodigal Son had to say. "I have sinned. . . . ." The Prodigal came to himself and said these things. Isn't it interesting that the father didn't need to hear them as much as the Prodigal needed to say them?

God knows exactly where we are at all times but do we know where we are? Do we need to answer these questions too?

Genesis 3:8-11 (ESV)
8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Where are you? - If you are a non-believer, you know you are oblivious to God, avoiding God, and ignoring Him; it is even possible, at times, you are mocking Him.  God knows where you are.  He knows you, and yet He does NOT know you!  He knows you in that he is omniscient and He is the knower of heart. God NOT only know physically where you are, He also knows your heart. God knows if you are "outside" or "inside"; is it NOT true, the Lord talked about, "I don't know you; depart from me"? There will come a time for non-believers, when it is NOT "where are you", but "I don't know you, depart from me".  The Lord knows who are His sheep (and His sheep knows Him), the "know" here is the Greek word, "ginosko", and it is knowing from personal experience, which implies that there exists a relationship between the believer (sheep) and the Lord. The shepherd-sheep metaphor used by Jesus is superb in this respect; is it NOT true the shepherd is always concerned with the whereabout of his sheep?  Are you his sheep? Do you love God, for Scripture also said, "Whoever loves God is ginosko-known by God"?  Remember now, if you are His sheep, whenever you are NOT near Him, He is asking, "Where are you?"

Who told you, that you are naked? - man is with conscience; maybe it was activated from that Fall in the Garden of Eden.  Our conscience, if not numbed by us, signals to us, about wrongdoing and shame.  When we become a believer, our conscience still functions, and should NOT be ignored. Overly grace preacher who suggests that believers should ignore their conscience, is wrong. It is wrong of such preachers to suggest that the Holy Spirit only convicts non-believers, and NOT believers, of sins.  The Holy Spirit works on the conscience of both non-believers and believers.  If you do away with your conscience, you will be dead meat, so to speak.  When you "make it hard" for the Holy Spirit to convict, are you NOT wanting the Holy Sprit to lead you?!   We need to be led by the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit convicts, respond accordingly; if the conviction is that you have sinned, confess your sin or wrongdoing, and the Lord is just and faithful to forgive and cleanse you of unrighteousness, in accordance to 1 John 1:9.  Don't listen to overly grace preachers who tell you that 1 John 1:9 is NOT for believers, or that the way we believers confess, is confessing a forgiven sin! No, we confess we have done wrong or sinned, and then the Lord forgives, and NOT all our sins, including future ones, have all been forgiven us, at our entry into salvation. 

Have you .... that I commanded you NOT to ...? - Do we still have to obey God's commandments? Yes.  1 Cor 8:3 said that whoever loves God is ginosko-known by God.  And when you are ginosko-known by God, He would NOT say to you, "I don't know you; depart from me".  So, want to love God? Then obey His commands.  John 14:15 - He who loves me, obeys my commands; John 14:21a - He who obeys my commands is the one who loves me. 1 John 5:3 - ... this is love for God: to keep His commands. And His commands are NOT burdensome. 

Can't hide - Ps 139:7-8 - Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

Anthony Chia, high.expressions