Seeking: Advent Dec. 3

"When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees."  -Genesis 3:8

I have never thought about it before.  One of the first questions asked in the OT is "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9)  God searching for the man and his wife.  Hiding in shame for what they had done.  Hiding in shame of their flesh.

This shame has spiraled all the way down to you and me.  Always hungering for more.  Thinking God is holding back on us.  Thinking we can do it better, but failing and feeling that shame.

Matthew 2:2- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

Wise men, searching for Jesus ask the first question recorded in the NT, "where is He?"  They were wise.  They were searching out the only One who can truly fulfill that need, fill the hungry places.

I love this line from today's chapter in The Greatest Gift:

"We lost ourselves at one tree.  And only find ourselves at another" (p.22).

How heart-piercing is that!?!

Question(s): "What would you say if God called out to you now, 'Where are you'?"  "What does it mean to you that God seeks you out and finds you when you are far from Him?"
    -I think my most frequent answer would be, "I don't know!"  I feel like I get confused way too often, turned around over the smallest, stupidest things.  I'm not enough like the wise men, seeking out the One until I've found Him.

   -It's kind of disappointing, you know?  That I have to be searched out because I wander and get turned around.  Don't get me wrong, it's a very wonderful thing that God actually pursues us.  But honestly, I find it frustrating that I'm not good enough, that I get lost, that I'm not perfect, that I fall down so many times and have to be picked up by grace.  And then that thought process leads me further away from Him.  Showing off my imperfection and my humanness.  Showing me that I need to be found even more, that I need the grace and I need that second tree even more than I can imagine.