Jun P. Espina 4 min read
Updated on February 10th, 2020
Real Love of God
Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9) It is one verse of Scripture where God showed the existence and authenticity of His true love to Adam and Eve in particular, and to all the human race in general. God’s love is just so true as the stars in the skies or the fish in the ocean. Observe the first part of the verse (Gen. 3:9) for it describes God’s effort as He showed His concern for our first parents. It says: “Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?'”
Can we imagine Almighty God, our Creator, most holy and magnificent, calling us by name and asking for our whereabouts? “Adam, where are you?” What if President Donald Trump or other world leader send you a personal email asking for your routine because he knows and is interested in you?
But Trump or Putin is just a mere dot of dust compared to God. There is, therefore, no greater experience than the consciousness and faith that God is involved with our beings.
The Real Love of God is Experiential
Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, is so true to many people today. Of course, we expect violent reactions on this statement. The unbelievers hate it. But the logic is simple: You cannot share something beyond the scope of your experience. I experienced Jesus Christ just like other Christians. I write what I know. He taught in John 14:23:
The Real Love of God is Patient
God was patient. His first question to disobedient Adam was “Where are you?” This holy issue seems to portray a sudden change in the ecology of Paradise. If God were a man, He would have asked: “Why I told Adam to have dominion over all things, but it seems he’s no longer in full control. Where are the tame birds and animals? Adam and Eve, where are you?”
READ MORE: Real God whom Paul Met
Surely at this time Adam and Eve trembled in their guilt and shame. God’s love became so evident to them, and yet so frightening on the other hand. For how devilish their hearts grew when they were “born” without inherited sin like us. They sinned against our most loving Father God willfully. Their best option, thus, was to hide away.
God’s Real Love Understands Man’s Frailties.
Oh, how the man separated himself from his God! How did sin send Adam and Eve into the backwoods of Paradise; how did it rob them of their comfort and joy in the loving arms of their Maker!
But God remembered that Adam was but made of the dust of weakness. So His deep love towards him raised His magnificent voice in the semblance of the “sound of many waters” by way of asking the man the most loving question of interest and inquiry put together: “Where are you? I love you, but what have you done?”
Of course, God knew where Adam was. But He called him just the same so we would know that He was concerned about our whereabouts—of our salvation from sin and from the wrath to come!
As you read this, God is asking you the same old question directed to all sinners like Adam and Eve; like you and me:
Only through the aid of the Spirit of God can we answer God’s first question correctly to man. But first, let us humble ourselves before Him. In that paradisal confrontation with God, Adam ashamedly failed because he was priding. The old serpent told him and Eve earlier that they would be as gods knowing good and evil should they disobey the Father.
God’s Real Love Demands Humility.
Perhaps, in his trembling eloquence, Adam thought it wise to pass the buck, so to speak, to blame Eve for everything as he couldn’t admit squarely before God his moral and spiritual failures.
But this Adamic excuse for sin did not please God.
“because of you…you are dust…to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:17-19).
So, let’s be humble and faithful to ourselves; let’s not follow Adam’s excuse. Let’s answer God by saying, “Lord, I’m here in the backwoods of sin. Forgive me, Father, for I’m a wicked, poor, lost sinner in this world. Help me, Father, to come to Jesus Christ Your Son, whose blood cleanses me from all sin (cf. 1 John 1:7).
God’s love is so undeniable indeed to a sinner like Adam, like you and me whom Christ came to die for.
God’s Real Love is Also Frightening Sometimes
Surely at this time Adam and Eve trembled in their guilt and shame. God’s love became so evident to them, and yet so frightening on the other hand. For how devilish their hearts grew when they were “born” without inherited sin like us. They sinned against our most loving Father God willfully. Their best option, thus, was to hide away. “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (Gen. 3:8)
