God’s First Questions
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
The man said, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:8-13
The text above follows the woman and man’s encounter with the serpent and their ultimate decisions to eat of the fruit God had instructed them not to consume. This time it is God who asks a whole series of questions.
God, the creator of the universe is walking in the garden, and the man and woman choose to hide. God asks them where they are. This is not a question offered because God does not know, but instead it is an invitational question. God invites his people to respond to him in truth. God’s question invites the man to share how he is feeling. The man reveals he is scared and naked.
The people did not loose their clothes in the eating of the fruit, rather they become aware of their nakedness. They also now feared God because of what they have done.
While sharing his vulnerability, the man also places blame on the woman. The Lord God turns his attention to the woman and asks her what she has done, and she places the blame on the serpent.
Again, God did not need to ask these questions for he knew the answers. He offered the questions to his people to give them a chance for reflection and confession.
In several Christian traditions today, people offer a prayer of examen at the end of the day. This prayer in many ways invites God to examine our day and reveal where we have walked well with God and where we have fallen short. How easy is it for us to walk through our lives for long periods failing to reflect on how well we have depended on God. When we do feel the questions come from God, do we also feel the shame while still placing the blame on others? Can we come to a place where we can trust God enough to confess where we have failed regardless of the actions of others?
