Ayeka- Where are You?
If not the shortest then
certainly one of the shortest questions in the Old Testament, is, in our
understanding, also God’s first question.
We know the story- Adam and Eve have just eaten some of the forbidden
fruit and are hiding in the garden having sensed His presence. One can imagine
them cowering there among the trees, ostensibly hidden from the Almighty, ever
present, all seeing God. And, God questions them, He calls out “ayeka?”- A
Hebrew word meaning, “Where are you?”
We might well be somewhat puzzled
as to why God would ask a question of this nature. Of course He knew where they
were. But the gracious omniscient, caring God has a very good reason for his
question.
Perhaps it is worth, at this
juncture, reflecting on our Novel Covid19 world and asking the same question-
Ayeka, where are you? Where are you today in 2021 over 2000 years since Christ
was born somewhere around 4BC as scholars would have us understand, and
certainly many more years than 2000 since God uttered that ominous Hebrew word
to Adam and Eve, “Ayeka?” The question is as real today as it was then with the
rationale behind the question, the same. God asks Adam and Eve, not because He
had no idea where they were, but to allow them the opportunity to confess their
sin.
What was Adam’s pitiful answer?
He says: “I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was
naked, so I hid myself.” What is wrong with Adam’s answer? He does not confess
to eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. He says he was afraid because he was
naked. We know what God then says. He patiently gives Adam yet another
opportunity to get real and accept responsibility for his sin. He asks him “Who
told you, you were naked?” “Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded you
not to eat?” And the blame game starts.
Adam blames Eve! He does not admit or accept responsibility. He passes the buck
and indirectly blames God, because after all, he would never have eaten of the
fruit had God not supplied him with this female who has now caused him all this
trouble!
So we ask the question again of
the reader: “Where are you?” If God is asking this question of you today in
2021, will you be hiding because you are afraid He will see your nakedness as
you cower fearfully, hiding from a myriad of viruses affecting your life. Are
you yet another Adam, filled and ready with a bucket full of reasons as to why
things are not your fault? The
exploitation of the natural resources of the world He created is not your
fault. You are extremely careful not to waste precious resources such as water,
you do not overeat. And the list goes on and on…
Your psychologically wrecked
state is someone else’s fault, not due to the way you have lived. You have
evaded responsibility since you could walk and talk.
Are we as a nation, a world, capable
of feeling any shame for the way things are today? Or are we still looking to
blame someone else? China, for example, after all the Covid19 Virus allegedly
started in Wuhan province, China. Could it not have started in your own
backyard, a backyard you have left untended and creating possible health
problems for the neighbours?
The African saying and I quote:
“It takes a village to raise a child” may tell us something about ourselves in
a dysfunctional society and world. Where is the “village”, the “moral
community” that perhaps Adam may have
not had to fall back on, but we have no excuse for not having. Does our moral
community consist of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, Gmail, Whatsapp,
TikTok and a so many more communications which are nothing more than
superspreaders allowing us moral immunity, or perhaps amoral immunity. I wonder
just how satisfied, how happy we would be to be able to see, flashing across a
beautiful sunset or sunrise the blackened swarm of our messages hurtling across
the sky in answer to God’s question , “Ayeka?”
The world we knew, despite the
claims of those who bleat vociferously about Covid19 and lockdowns, vaccines
and the many excuses as to why we can or cannot do this or that, is still the
same. The sun does as it has done since time began, the birds still sing and
the Kingdom the He created despite our efforts to destroy it, remains.
So, let us forget about being
someone we are not.
It is time to stand together in
this place, wherever that may be and reflect on where we were this time last
year. Have we moved forward positively or are we yet again denying that we ate
the apple and have moved not one step forward, perhaps even holding back others
who may wish to move.
We need to ask ourselves where we
were and where we can be.
There is no other question worth
asking.
