The Two Most Important Questions in the Bible

In Genesis 3:9, God asks one of the two most important questions in the Bible. 

Picture the scene. The paint is barely dry on God’s creation masterpiece. The world is pristine. Animals and humans live in perfect harmony. Adam and his new bride, Eve, are naked and unashamed. No sin corrupts their relationship—with each other or with their creator. God and Adam walk and talk together in the cool of every evening. 

Until Satan and his evil henchman, Sin, enter in. They lie to Eve, cause her to doubt God’s goodness and tempt her to disobey God’s instructions. From the first bite of that toxic fruit, she and her husband are naked and ashamed. They stitch pitiful faux coverings for themselves and hide from the God they once fellowshipped with. In disgust and judgment God could and should have turned his back on them, but instead he comes calling. 

And he asks the question: “Where are you?” 

His question to Adam and Eve is his question to us as well: Where are you in relationship to him? Are we, like Adam and Eve, partially-clothed with our own pitiful attempts to cover our sin? Hiding from him because we’ve disobeyed his instructions and spurned his love? Or are we naked and unashamed, clothed in Christ’s righteousness and walking in sweet camaraderie and obedience? 

This piercing second question of the Old Testament can only be answered by a thorough understanding of the first question of the New Testament: 

“Where is He?” 

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?’” (Mat. 2:1-2 NKJV). 

It really doesn’t matter where we are in relationship to God unless we know where God is in relationship to us. 

And where is he? Seeking us. 

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost," (Luke 19:10). 

Once he finds us, he offers salvation without cost or merit. “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy,” Titus 3:5 says. And once we accept him as our Savior, he bestows upon us the wealth of his kingdom: forgiveness from sin, freedom from guilt, and a life filled with hope and peace. 

If Christ is our Savior, he is “near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18), with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9), and seated at the right hand of the father, interceding on our behalf (Rom. 8:34). He goes before us (Psa. 23:3) and lives in us (1 Cor. 3:16). Best of all, he eagerly waits to welcome us home to live with him forever. (Eze. 37:27). Savor 

The two questions, “Where are you?” and “Where is He?” prove God isn’t distant or disinterested. Instead, he eagerly desires a relationship with us.

As you begin a new year, take a moment to ask yourself these two questions: Where am I in relationship to God? and, where is God in relationship to me? Your honest answers will set the stage for a year of plumbing the depths of God’s love for you.

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