January 2 - Where are You? Where is Your Brother?
God is an interactive God, He asks questions and requires us to search our soul for answers. After the man and the woman ate of the forbidden fruit, God called Adam and asked him, “Where are you?” This is not a question of location but rather of relation. Of course God would know where Adam was but He wanted Adam to look deep into his soul to evaluate his relationship with his Maker. This simple question brings us immediately into the presence of God and how we are in relating to Him. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, to not know God is to live our lives in utter ignorance and stupidity. To seek knowledge on our own apart from God is to choose the creation rather than the Creator; to choose God is to choose life, as in the Tree of Life. Adam chose the wrong tree and the whole human race fell from God’s presence and wisdom into total destruction.
The second question God asked of mankind is: “Where is your brother?” Again, it is not a question of location but of relation. After Cain murdered his brother Abel in cold blood, God brought Cain to account and gave him a lesson on the importance of earthly relationship. Anger opens the way for sin and violence, we have to overcome anger and sin or else relationships would be broken. Sin also brings curse on the ground, affecting others along the way. No man is an island, we must relate to others in this world and God looks at our relationships seriously. No one can claim that he loves God but not others. The first question is very much related to the second.
When asked of the greatest commandment, the Lord gave a two-part answer: to love God with all we have and then to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is only when we have God-awareness, then we might have other-awareness and self-awareness. To fully live as human, one must be related to God and others. One must live in a right relationship with God, repent and come under His rule in order to live in right relationships with others. When God aroused the self-awareness of Adam and the other-awareness of Cain, He pointed to the key: He Himself.
Consequently, one cannot improve interpersonal relationships by working with one another’s problems or by improving relationship or communication skills. It is useless to improve one’s low self-esteem by reading self-help books or by attending seminars. God is the key to all relationships, without Him, no one can live life to the fullest. Have you been trying to fix your relationships with others and with yourself? God is asking you the two vital questions: “Where are you?” and “Where is your brother?” What are your answers to these questions? Is there any sin in your life you would like to confess and come clean before Him?
Ps 2:1-6 Gen 3:1-4:26 Matt 2:13-3:6 Prov 1:7-9