Where are You Now?

Well, I've finally done it. Yep, I just recently joined the smartphone revolution. Yeah, I know what you're saying, it's about time I got in on that, since the modern smartphone era is now more than six years old. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a fad and was really going to stick around for the long run, yeah, that's my story...Anyway, I have been discovering this great all-in-one functionality that the smartphone offers, and I am wondering how I ever got anything accomplished without one of these devices. In addition to the standard phone conversation, I have the family calendars, contacts, email, instant messaging, social media, pictures, documents, and the Internet all in the palm of my hand. Of particular interest are the many available apps that will be of great assistance to me in planning, doing recon and carrying out a well executed hunt or fishing trip - Compass, Google Earth, Topo and Nautical charts, Solunar forecasts, NOAA Smart Buoys, Riverflows, and TidalFish to name a few. But there is one significant thing that most all of these apps require of me before they can be effectively utilized - activate my phone's global positioning system (GPS) and indicate my exact location.

Genesis 3:8-9 (NASB)
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. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”


An obvious strength of the smartphone is its ability to track the user's location in order to provide all sorts of useful functions - driving navigation, updated weather forecasts, live traffic updates, nearby amenities, etc. However, I don't know about you, but with the recent acknowledgements that phone companies and various levels of government are tracking our moves and conversations now more than ever, I have to pause to consider if I really want to openly reveal my constant location.

The question of 'where are you' is not a new one, but I am not referring to the myriad of songs asking "Where are You Now" by artists such as Nazareth, Jimmy Harnen, Janet Jackson, Clint Black, Lenny Kravitz, Mumford and Sons and even Justin Bieber. The question dates back quite a bit further, actually all the way back to the garden with God asking this question of the first two humans to walk the earth. However, there are some important distinctions that need to be understood behind God's version of the question. First, when God asked where Adam and Eve were, He already knew where they were physically. What he was really asking them was where were their hearts, for their sin in the garden had initiated their spiritual separation from God. Second, and contrary to the potentially harmful motives of those that want to track our every move today, God loves us unconditionally, and He asks us our spiritual location because He wants each of us to acknowledge our sin and separation from Him. In reality, God knows where you are before you ever acknowledge it to Him, but He asks us the same question as He did of Adam and Eve so that we will choose to be honest with Him and confess our need for spiritual restoration that only He can offer us.

Have you acknowledged to God "where you are", or are you leery of revealing your spiritual condition to your Creator? Be assured that He can be trusted and has your best interested at heart. Acknowledging your "location" to Him is part of the process of being restored into right relationship and fellowship with Him. - GE