Category: Questions God Asks

Even a great man of God finds himself answering God’s question:  “What brought you here?”  1 Kings 19:9:  And the word of the Lord came to Him:  “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah was paralyzed by exhaustion but propelled by a whisper from God.  Elijah had been hearing from God for a long time.  Listening to God compelled him to pray for rain in a drought and it rained.  Listening to God challenged him to show the prophets of Baal that they were no match for God.  Exhausted by conflict, he found himself in a cave.  

 

When you’re discouraged, all you can see are circumstances.  Past victories are a distant memory.  In the stillness of the cave, God asks a question:  Elijah what are you doing here?  God cares about what brings us to where we are.  Elijah puts forth his resume and pours out his discouragement.  Then, God shows His power.  Elijah is allowed to experience a wind, fire and earthquake, but God is nowhere to be found.  Then, the same question, same answer, same discouragement.  Finally, Elijah hears God in a whisper.  The God-whisper is where we find the One who asks the question:  “What are you doing here?”  It is a change in focus from where we think we are to where He wants us to be.  

 

The God whisper prompts us to act.  Recognize what brought you to where you are, listen to the whisper of God and act on what He says for your life. 

“But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 

The One who knows all and sees all asks the question:  “Where are you?”  God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden, in a perfect life.  They had unbroken fellowship with Him and His creation as long as they did not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  They wanted what they could not have—the forbidden fruit.  They were lured by the prospect of having all knowledge.  Shame and blame have now entered the world.  Now realizing he was naked, he hid.  The man answered God’s question with blame.  The man blamed God for putting the woman in the garden to tempt him. The woman blamed the serpent for making her eat it.  

 

Beyond this question in the garden:  The “Where are you?”  is the question at the center of the cross.  We were meant to live forever, but are now banished from perfect harmony with God.  We were meant to have unbroken fellowship but that was shattered by the desire to do what was forbidden.  However, the Where are you?  Prompts the Here I AM to come to our rescue.  God needed a plan and Jesus is the answer to our plight.  

 

Even though there are consequences for disobedience God still has a plan to restore that which was lost.  We can answer:  “Here I am, I am yours.”