Genesis 3:8-11

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

God’s question to Adam and Eve “Where are you?” was really a call to intimacy, it’s quite obvious that He already knew where they were! God still asks us that same question, “where are you?” If you were to answer that question what would you say? What is really going on in your life? It’s not a location question like God has lost track of you! It’s a REFLECTIVE question – intended to cause us to reflect on where we are really at, not physically but relationally. Answering this question requires getting real with ourselves. Adam needed to deal with where he was at relationally, he needed to get real with where he was at.

He was hiding in the trees – Trapped behind the leaves, trying to cover things up instead of walking freely with God. He was hiding his sin instead of running to the Father seeking forgiveness. His mind was consumed with excuses, doing anything he could to keep from admitting he had done wrong instead of apologies. His lips were filled with blame instead of confession. Instead of enjoying relationships he was destroying them.

Sin affects our intimacy, it destroys our relationships, so we don’t want to be alone with God we want to hide. The fruit looked better than fellowship. How true that is for us there are many shiny things that distract us from walking with God. Adam hid from God because he couldn’t face up to what was happening. He thought “If I hide here and cover myself up before He sees me…then he won’t know and I can pretend everything is fine.” No matter how many leaves he sewed together, he was still naked underneath. You can’t cover up your own sin, you need God. No matter how many things you get together, without God it’s never going to be enough. Our “fig leaves”, our good works, our own effort never cut it.

God knew Adam was afraid. He knew he was hiding, he knew he had sinned, yet He simply came to the garden as He did before, God didn’t change. He came looking to spend time with His friend, He came to offer man a relationship. He came with compassion asking Adam to come to Him and not hide in fear. God was simply asking why you are not coming to me with this sin. Why are you turning from me?

Today God does this with us. We all have hidden at one point or another. We try to avoid the reality that we need to come to God. But the truth is God is waiting for us, not to judge us, but to rescue us. He loves us even in our darkest moments. What would have happened had Adam stayed hidden when God called? Adam would have remained naked. He would have spent the rest of his life working to cover up his sin. He would have spent his life hiding in the shadows. He would have missed the opportunity to be free to come to God and to allow God to heal his relationship so they could walk together again.

How long do you want to hide? Do you like doing life cold, naked, and alone?

What will you do? Is there something causing you to hide from God? Are you pretending you can get those fig leaves sewn together and then be ok? Is God calling and asking “Where are you?” Come to God. Face the truth now. Admit where you are and let God do the fixing. I am so thankful that I have a God who still seeks. He sent Jesus to seek and to save. We have a God that KNOWS, We have a God that SEES, We have a God that CARES

Stop hiding from God and start HIDING THIS: Psalms 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you

Start SEEKING THIS Deuteronomy 4:29

But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him

Luke 10:38-42

“Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

If there is one thing that drives us almost insane, that we cannot stand, one thing that makes us uncomfortable it’s… silence, stillness.

Psalm 37:7, we are told, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.”

In Psalm 46:10, we are told, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

We don’t like to be still and silent, and it’s not a modern problem, although I suspect that technology has not helped us any. Look at Martha and Mary, Jesus comes to their home. Mary is content to be still and silent, to be with the Lord. Martha can’t do that, she is busy and becomes “distracted and upset at many things.” So it is with us, Jesus is in the midst of our life, but we become distracted and upset at many things. We live in a Martha World it’s so busy, our lives are so full, but the truth is we like it that way.  Because a busy life makes us feel important, valuable, and it gives us a sense of worth. For many of us Jesus is not enough, we feel we need something more than Jesus to validate our lives – we need a busy schedule. We fall into the trap of believing that if we are busy, then we are important, because we are needed.

Mary and Martha both loved Jesus very much, but Martha didn’t realize that in her desire to serve Jesus, she was actually neglecting him. She was so busy at doing things for Him that she had no time to spend with him. Like Mary and Martha our encounter with Jesus is all about Choices, the physical and the spiritual.

THE PHYSICAL CHOICE

This is the choice Martha made. You see custom in her day demanded a meal for a guest, so she set herself about the task of preparing one. Yet Jesus was not looking for someone to feed Him, but for someone whom He could feed.

THE SPIRITUAL CHOICE

This is the choice Mary made. In the eyes of some, she could be criticized because she chose not to bring out the china and the potato casserole. But she wasn’t being lazy, she just made a choice to be with Jesus. What will be your choice? No one else is responsible and no one can steal that decision from us. So, the lesson we so desperately need to learn is that what we do with Jesus is far more important that what we do for Jesus. It’s all about the choice, Mary is mentioned three times in the Gospels and each time she is at the feet of Jesus. We need to Divert Daily, Withdraw Weekly, and Abandon Annually

When was the last time that the presence of God made you forget what was going on around you? Whose feet are you planning your schedule around yours or the Saviors?