June 29, 2003

Pentecost 3

            “Where are you?” Lorne playfully asked as he opened the door getting home from work.  “Where’s the love of my life?” he asked as he put his things away and went looking for his wife, “I’m right here, my love,” her usual answer. He opened the bedroom door, and there was Amanda, getting ready for their date tonight.  She was beautiful, and her smile brought a twinkle in Lorne’s eye that showed just how much he loved her.  He kissed her, as he did every day after work, and embraced her as if they hadn’t seen each other in weeks.  No matter how busy he was in his very successful career, he had always tried to put work aside and first greet her warmly each day.  She was the most important thing in his life, second only to God.  Lorne and Amanda were devoted to their Savior and quite active at their church.

Life was good, for the most part.  They were happy.  They shared a strong faith in God.  He had a good job.  So did she, working out of the home.  They lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, and had good friends.  They spent time with each other, and Lorne was able to provide Amanda everything she needed, and most things she wanted. Except for children.  He had a certain deficiency which made it impossible for them to have children, so said the doctors.  Because God blessed them in so many ways, they accepted it for now.

“Amanda,” Lorne said, now sitting on the bed beside her, “It’s been a hard day.  Someone’s been skimming from the company’s profits – we’ve known it for some time.  There has been an investigation going on, and today the culprit was caught red-handed.  I had to fire him.  Amanda, it was Devin.”  Devin was a friend of theirs, someone they had invited into their home before.  “I had to fire him, and it was hard,” Lorne continued, “but we didn’t press charges, we just let him go.  I don’t want to have to do anything like that again.”  The troubled look on Amanda’s face wasn’t surprising to her husband.

He wouldn’t have known then, but looking back, that night seemed to mark somewhat of a change between Lorne and Amanda.  Their date didn’t go well that evening.  Amanda withdrew a little – almost seemed to be slightly depressed.  It lasted a couple of weeks.  Lorne knew something was wrong, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.  When he had to take a business trip, he wasn’t excited about leaving her, but maybe figured the time alone might do her some good.  But while he was away, a number of his phone calls home were not answered.  In his heart, he knew something was wrong.  He knew that he had to be home.  He cancelled two meetings and came home early to be with his wife again.

As Lorne pulled into his driveway, he saw another car.  Someone else was at his house.  And it was a familiar car with familiar plates.  Lorne’s stomach churned.  He knew who was at his house.  “Where are you?” Lorne asked as he burst into his house on that cool afternoon.  “Amanda, where are you?” he said, dropping his things and moving down the hallway.  Opening his bedroom door, there were two silhouettes in the darkness instead of one.  Both hiding from him.  One of them belonged to Devin, his former associate, his former friend.

“Where are you?”  That is the question our loving God asks each one of us.  He comes looking for us every day because of his amazing love for you and me.  And when God asks, “Where are you?” it isn’t because He doesn’t know where you are, or can’t find you.  He is looking for you to search your own heart and realize where you are on your spiritual journey.  Where are you? Running from Him in rebellion, or clinging to Him in faith?  That question God asks you and me is both a question of stern justice and anxious love.  When we are hiding from God in guilt, his query is stern justice, intended to help us see the error of our ways and come back to Him.  When we are relying on God for the help we need, that question, “Where are you,” is nothing but anxious love.  God is showing us how much He cares and wants us in his arms.

So where are you?  Are you Hiding from God?  As silly as it is, that is our natural human response when we have done something that we know has hurt Him.  The first thing Adam and Eve felt when they disobeyed God was shame.  Their consciences had convicted them of guilt.  And this was something they had never felt before!  It was awful.  They couldn’t bear to face God.  They couldn’t imagine verbalizing what they had done.  And they certainly didn’t want anyone else to know.  Especially God!

We can relate, can’t we?  When you have done something you know you shouldn’t have, you don’t want anyone to know.  The worst part of it is shame!  If no one ever found out what you had done, it would be much easier.  But people knowing is the worst.  That is what shame and guilt do.  However, we have to deal with God, and He already knows!  We can’t hide from Him!  And He tells us if we have even broken one of his commands, we are condemned by Him!  That is God’s justice!  So the next thing Adam, Eve, you, and me feel is fear.  When we hear God calling “Where are you?” we’re afraid!  And as silly as it is, we try to hide.  So where are you?  Hiding from God?  Staying away from church and Bible reading and your other Christian friends, because they will make you feel shame and guilt?  Have you stopped praying to God because you don’t feel worthy to approach Him anymore?  If you stop thinking about Him, maybe then He won’t find you and make you deal with the difficulty you got yourself into.

Devin slinked out of the house with his tail between his legs.  Lorne was left alone with Amanda.  He spoke first:  “Amanda, you made an important promise to me – one promise more important than any other.  Have you broken that one promise so important to our marriage – the promise to be faithful to me for life?”  The shame, guilt, and fear swelled up in Amanda and she exploded, “It’s not that easy, Lorne!  You can’t give me children!  Life isn’t that rosy for me!  There is something missing in this marriage!  I’m lacking something!  It’s not that I don’t love you – I love you, but God hasn’t given us fulfillment in every part of our marriage!  It’s driving me crazy, Lorne, and this is what happens!  I didn’t want to hurt you, but it’s not my fault!  And Devin just happened to be there for me.  It was too hard to resist.  So it’s his fault too.”

Where Are You?  Making Excuses?  When God’s law hits home in your heart, and you realize you have not obeyed Him, and you are filled with shame and guilt, do you start making excuses?  Do you start blaming others?  I mean, if you stole, isn’t it your employer’s fault, for not giving you enough salary to take care of your family?  If you cheat in school, isn’t it your teacher’s fault for giving you too much homework?  If you blow up on your family, isn’t it the office’s fault, because it is stressing you out?  If you aren’t showing your wife enough love, isn’t it her fault, because she isn’t showing you enough love?  When you lose your temper with your children, isn’t it their fault because they’re so naughty?  And when there is divorce, strained relationships, conflicts, jealousy, coveting, adultery, or slander, isn’t it God’s fault because of the situation He put you in?   Or is it maybe the Devil’s fault, because his temptations are too powerful for you?  Where are you?  Making excuses?  Blaming other people?  The devil?  God?

Nothing was resolved that day between Lorne and Amanda.  She left.  She couldn’t take the pain of being around him.  He wanted to forgive her, but the pain was great.  He wanted things to be back like they used to be.  But that would be too painful for her now.  And often, bad decisions bring about even worse decisions.  She packed a bag and went to Devin’s place.  She didn’t know what else to do.  Somehow it seemed to her that Devin really had her best interests in mind right now, and it was a whole lot less painful than being near Lorne.  But Devin led quite a different life.  Not everything is as it seems.  A few weeks made that painfully obvious.

Devin’s life was filled with booze and drugs.  Late nights and parties.  Not what Amanda had been used to.  He had this strange power to control her, but did not treat her well.  When he was high, he began to abuse her.  First with his words.  Then with his fists.  Amanda realized she had made a bad choice.  Many bad choices.  She had chosen to be friends with Devin.  Now she realized Devin was not her friend.  He was her enemy.  But she realized that too late.  One night, he came home in a rage, and this time put her into a hospital.  And himself into jail.

Adam and Eve are, in fact, our parents.  We have learned to love ourselves and fight for ourselves and hide from God and make excuses from them.  But God never answered their excuses.  Nor did He approve of Satan’s actions.  God did not cause the evil the Devil brought about.  God hates sin, even when He allows it.  And so He turned to the snake, the animal Satan used to return mankind to the dust in death, and declared that from now on, its crawling in the dust would symbolize Satan’s defeat and humiliation.  A reminder that this is the animal Satan used to drag humanity down to his level.

Where are you?  Crawling on your belly?  Have you been brought down by a sin or pattern of sin you have gotten yourself into?  Have you hit rock bottom?  Are you now despairing that there is no help for you?  You feel that God is your enemy, He just has to be?  This is the final result of sin – it makes us God’s enemy and the Devil’s friend.  And that means we are crawling on our bellies in the dust.  We couldn’t get lower.

Lorne did some major soul-searching during this time.  There was no doubt he was angry with his wife.  She had been unfaithful to him.  She had deserted him.  She had not returned his love.  But he still loved her.  He still reminded himself that he had made a promise to love her for life.  And he had to let her know this.  He went to Devin’s place and knocked on the door.  The door swung opened and revealed a dark emptiness.  “Where are you, Amanda?” he called out.

In the last verse of our text, the Lord makes a very loving promise to Adam and Eve:  “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”  By Adam and Eve’s own decision, they had made friends with the Devil and enemies with God.  God was saying here that even though they had done that, He would once again return that hostility, that enmity, to being between the Devil and his beloved children.  God would still be their friend.  More than that, their loving Father. 
Nothing had changed.  And the way He would do that would be by sending his own Son to be born as offspring of the woman, a descendant of her line.  And that person, Jesus Christ, would come to the earth for the sole purpose of undoing what the Devil had done here that day.  He would crush his head and once again make mankind part of God’s beloved family.  The Devil would strike his heel in the process, as it would lead him to suffering and death on the cross.  But that Savior was coming to make everything right again between God and you and me.

So Where Are You?  Being Friends with God and Trusting His Promise?  That’s what He wants you to be doing more than anything else!  He isn’t looking for you and asking you where you are to drive you away from Him!  He is asking where you are because He wants you to trust that you are his forgiven, loved child.  He wants you to know that He does not hold against you all the times you have betrayed and abandoned Him.  So trust his promise and be his friend!  He has forgiven you through Jesus!

“Where are you?” Lorne pleaded out loud at the open door of Devin’s empty house.  His search led him to the hospital.  His walking turned into running as he got to her floor.  He literally called down the hallway, “Where are you, Amanda?” until he got to her room.  This time as he entered the dark room, there was only one silhouette.  It belonged to his wife.  When he turned on the lights, it revealed a face battered and streaked with tears.  “I’m right here, my love. I’m sorry.”  Lorne’s embrace assured her that all was forgiven.  They were reconciled.  Her true friend for life was holding her.  As he hugged her, he looked into the mirror and saw, through her tears, a smile of much relief beginning to form.  Friends, where are you?  God wants you in his arms – forever.   Amen.

 

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