Where art thou?

Genesis chapter 3

The devil being the grandmaster of lies and deceit poses questions to the believer with the intention to knock him off his belief. He then concludes by answering such questions with a lie which makes the believer to wonder and ponder on his false response.

The woman Eve, had always lived with the tree of good and evil. She never saw it as pleasant to the eyes nor a tree to make one wise because she never examined, ruminated and thought about it. The command of God was ‘’keep your eyes off it’ ’don’t even think about it’, so long as they did that they were saved preserved and uncorrupted.

The tree of good and evil today can be likened to sin. Sin on its own is not an issue until you start ruminating on it. As ugly as sin is, it becomes suddenly enticing, pleasurable and pleasant to you when you begin to think about it. There could be a lady or a man around you who had always been there; but they are never an issue until you start thinking about them lustfully – their charm, beauty, handsomeness, wittiness, smartness, intelligence, and what have you? Also, there could be a loophole for you to enrich yourself illegitimately which had always been; but it will never be an issue until you start pondering on how you can augment your monthly expenses and meetup with exigencies using such deceitful gain. You cannot be caught up with a sin you have not thought of. Since the flashes of sinful thoughts are possibilities, the bible admonishes us to “cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. Sin exalts itself against the knowledge of God as seen in Genesis chapter 3, it always wants to overrule God’s command.

“she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat”

Sin always looks for an accomplice; sin is a dangerous giver; hence, we must reject the gift of sin. Sin seeks partnership as we see today that most sin are committed by two or more persons. When someone wants to falsify figures at the place of work, he would ordinarily seek someone else to join him. When an individual is engulfed with lust, he seeks partnership to accomplish his wicked desire. Sin is a web that always seeks to rope in as many as possible, but we must avoid the spider and its web.

“The eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked”

Sin disgraces; it reduces one from being a hero to zero; it brings one from the pinnacle of fame and makes the perpetrators a spectacle of shame. It brings about nakedness, emptiness and worthlessness.

“and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron”

The immediate reaction of sin is always to cover up. Sin always seeks to cover its shame and reproach which mostly leads to committing other sins. Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves to cover up their sin. The bible says “he that covers his sins shall not prosper”, this is because it was never completely covered in the first place. Sin might be a secret before men, but it’s an open scandal before God in heaven. A sinner cannot be the solution for his own sin, only the Saviour is; just a little wind and sun and the fig is dry and gone.

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden”

The voice of God speaks through everyman through the instrument of a healthy conscience, when you do wrong, your conscience is there to prick you and bring you back on the right path, if you listen to it.

“Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden”

Sin makes one a fugitive in his own land. It makes one a refugee in his own community. Sin exposes human foolishness. Adam how can you hide in a garden you never created? The Master planner, the Architect, the Creator seeks for you and you think you can hide from him? You cannot hide from God as His eyes are all seeing; He sees in the dark, He sees in the pit, He see above, He sees beneath, He sees abroad, He sees home. Hebrew  4 vs. 13 says “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do’’.

“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?’’

Adam who was placed by God in the garden of Eden have been displaced by the devil into hiding. Where art thou? From being in refuge to be a refugee, from tendering the garden to trespassing in the garden, from fellowship at His presence to fleeing from His presence, from a place of assignment to a place of confinement, from purposefulness to purposelessness, from being a driver to being driven out, from pursuit to be pursued, from eternal security to eternal insecurity. I can see the devil and his host throwing up a party for derailing and defeating man. The dominion God gave man is dealt a dangerous blow. Man, as an image of God meant to dominate, diminish and destroy Satan’s reign on earth is disorganized. God on his part pondered, “oh that man had obeyed my commandment, then I would have established him forever”.

Where art thou? Dear man of vision, purpose, power, prayer, fire, where art thou? The LORD is asking everyman this question today. Where are you? are you still in the garden where God placed you or you are gone into hiding? Are you still at the centre of God’s call and purpose for your life? What are you doing? What is choking and beclouding your purpose in life? Are you trapped? Are you caged? Are you imprisoned at a destination far from your destiny? Former fellowship President, welfare coordinator, bible study coordinator, where art thou? Where is your vision? where is your passion? where is your mission? Have they not fizzled with filthy lucre, marred by marriage, jaded by jobs, punctured by personal pursuits? Where art thou?

Remember how mountains moved at your command; how demons tremble at your voice; how heaven and earth heard your voice in the morning and at night; how you moved men to serve and long after God; how people were thrilled and blessed with your bible teachings and rhema; how your voice like a nightingale brought heaven to earth; how you were seen as a special breed among the creed; how your counsels like Ahithophel’s always salvage situations; how we longed to pray like you do… the list goes on and on but ‘’WHERE ART THOU’’. Heaven is interested in knowing.

Gen 3 vs. 10 – 13 – sin always have an excuse, the meekest of which is ‘’it is the devil’s handiwork’’. Remember, excuses cannot justify sin, no sinner can ever be vindicated by his excuse. The sinner must realize that only repentance and reconciliation can save him. No matter how reasonable, how beautifully presented, sin cannot be cancelled by excuse. When sin comes knocking at your door, God has deposited within you the grace to resist and reject sin leaving you with no excuse. Have you been found culpable of sin? Please don’t excuse yourself, the cleansing fountain is still flowing freely at the cross.

When heaven asks the inhabitants of the earth questions most times, it is rhetorical. God knew where Adam was; thus, if heaven or God should ever ask you a question, don’t seek to justify yourself. The best response is to surrender your will, your frailty, your folly, your fault, your frivolity, your falsehood, your fainting and your fantasy.

There are always consequences for all parties involved in sin. From the serpent to Adam to Eve, they all had the consequences of their sins pronounced upon them. We must ensure we are not partakers of other men’s sins because as sin spreads so does its consequence. The consequences of sin are usually unbearable. Never commit sin with a mindset that you will damn the consequences, such thoughts result in destruction. The consequences of sin goes even beyond the sinner reaching those close to him. Sin exchanges favour with labour, grace for disgrace, mercy with damnation.

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them”

God’s solution is always the best solution. He has a better plan for us and wants our nakedness covered. He wants us protected from adverse weather, fire, insects and other animals. When God covers you, you are covered. Adam and Eve prior to this time were dressed in some skimpy, scanty, mini, micro fig leaves which obviously was still exposing their nakedness. Many today are still clothed with Adamic clothing of skimpy scanty clothing as they go about mincing and cat-walking in outfits of filthy figs. God is angry with such, as he had made coats for them to cover their nakedness.

“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”

Even though God made provision for man’s clothing, he still drove man out of the garden of Eden. This shows that the provisions of life’s need and wants by God even to the sinner is not a sign that God is happy with Him. God’s  goodness should lead us unto repentance. People who feel that they are okay because God is supplying all their needs without reproof should remember that “though hands join in hands, the sinner will not go unpunished”.

If God have been good to you despite your sinfulness and wickedness, it is time to return to him in repentance before He perpetually drives you out from the garden of light to the burden of eternal darkness.

Ndubuisi Paul Okafor
January 2018. 

Photo Credit: Google

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