Where Art Thou?

by Buddy Maynard
(Panama City, Florida)

Genesis 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

It is important to note that God asks this not because he does not know where we are...he asks this because he wants us to answer the question honestly, and for us to know where we are!

1. They are Concise Words – they are remembered by us

"Our words, if they give one sense, do well; but the Lord knoweth how to speak so that he shall teach many truths in few words. We give little in much: God giveth much in little. Many words and little sense — this is too often the rule of man’s speech. Few words and much meaning — this is the rule with God." Matthew Henry Commentary

Thomas Jefferson – “The most valuable of all life’s disciplines is that never using two words when one will do.”

2. They are Convicting Words – they are reproving to us

a. They cause to remember where we have been and where we are now.

b. They cause us to realize that God wants us to know and admit what he already knows – he is asking for our benefit.

3. They are Compassionate Words – they reach out to us

4. They are Compelling Words – they make us respond

5. They are Confident Words - they reassure us

Spurgeon also told a story first made famous by D. L. Moody, of a man in the wars between England and France who was drafted as a soldier, but did not have to go to battle because a friend had stepped in, and was accepted as his substitute. The substitute served in the war till he was killed in battle.

The man for whom he substituted was drafted a second time, but he refused to serve. He was forced to appear before a judge, and he pleaded that he had been drafted once, had served in the war by means of his substitute, and should now be considered as being dead, because his substitute had been killed. He claimed that his substitute's service was practically his service, and it is said that the law allowed his plea.

Spurgeon comments: "assuredly it is according to divine equity, even if it be not according to human law. No criminal can be hanged a second time; one death is all the law requires: believers died in Christ unto sin once, and now they pennaly die no more. Our condemnation has spent itself upon our gracious representative. The full vials of divine wrath against sin have been poured upon the head of the great Shepherd, that this sheep might go free; and therein is our joy, our comfort, our security. 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus' " (Rom. 8:1).