Where are you? It is a question that rolls like thunder through the pages of history. Where are you? It is whispered into your soul in the silence of the night as you sleep. It is a question shouted with every common miracle like the birth of a child, death of a saint, baptism of a young person and the marriage of a man and woman. Where are you? It is blaring from every mountain peak and starry sky. It rings from every church bell in a rural green valley.

"Where are you" is a question of lamenting and aching. How many of us have heard our children ask this same question in anxious desperation. Mom, Dad, where are you? Yet, here in Genesis it is not a child asking this question. It is not even a grown adult but it is God Himself. This is the voice of the creator whose creation has gone A.W.O.L. It is the voice of abandonment, isolation and concern.

We find these words recorded in Genesis 3. The preceding chapters 1 and 2 speak of God's power, sovereignty and greatness. These chapters are witness to God's eternal existence and creation of this temporal world. There we find recorded God's good creation. The cosmos, earth, and animal world are all a part of God's spoken word of creation. Then we find the climax of creation ... humankind. Human beings created in the image of God.

It is into man and woman alone God breathes the breath of life. This special act of creation was different than the others. Human beings were created to be God's servants, co-laborers, companions and friends. God creates them with a free will and creates them for eternity.

Then comes chapter 3. There the world is turned upside down. Paradise turns into a nightmare. Life turns toward death and living becomes existing. It is here in this chapter we find the story of man and woman's rebellion against God. The tempter offers the woman a subtle temptation. If you eat of the tree of knowledge you will not die but you will be like God. How many times have we heard this temptation? If you disobey God you will not die. God does not mean what He says. God does not want you to disobey for God knows when you do you will be in control. You will be god.

So they fell for it, just as we do. They disobeyed God and there were immediate consequences. There is first the recognition of guilt. There is an understanding they had disobeyed God and they were naked and ashamed. They begin to hide from God. It is here we find the question. God comes walking in the cool of the day and the question rings out -- where are you?

This question reveals the reality of our sin. How would you define sin? In his book Man as Sinner, John McClanahan surveyed lay people to ask them to define sin. Some people define sin in relationship to God. A chemist said "sin is any action on my part which is contrary to God's wishes for me." Another person wrote "sin is anything which separates me from God." Others see sin as a breaking of God's laws and commandments. One homemaker responded "sin is the breaking of the ten commandments." An accountant clarified it for us when he said "sin is the breaking of the ten commandments, the Lord's eleventh commandment, and any federal, state or local law that is not contradictory to scripture." Still others see sin as an action or attitude of selfishness or self-indulgence.1