Questions are asked for a variety of reasons. 

There are those simple questions that are designed to extract quick simple information, like “How many want coffee with your dessert ?” 

Other times, questions are asked because someone is wanting to find important information they are needing, like: “Do you know how to get to the ER in this hospital?”; or maybe, “What time does the wedding start?” 

 Oftentimes, questions can be asked to gather facts so more important decisions can be made, whether it is your doctor inquiring about symptoms you may be experiencing or a police detective needing details in order to solve a crime. 

 But then there are times when we ask questions, not because we need information or answers, rather, we ask questions to get us thinking about something. Good teachers will do that; they ask questions of their students...to get their minds thinking. 

It is safe to say that when God ask questions of us, it’s not because He needs answers. He IS...the answer and He knows all things. But God will ask questions to hopefully get us thinking and to consider what He’s asking so that we might learn some valuable lessons. Again, that is what good teachers do; they ask questions. Jesus asked a lot of them. 

Interestingly, we have recorded back in Genesis, the very first two questions God asked, and they were directed at Adam and Eve after they took of the fruit off the tree in which they were clearly instructed not to eat from. (Gen. 2:17) 

 “The Lord God called to Adam and said (asked) to him, “Where are you?” 

 This was not a game of ‘hide and seek’ either. Serious things are about to go down here. 

God obviously knew what happened and where they were but His asking was directed to them to point out or state the obvious...they were not where they ‘needed to be’. (Have you ever been asked how your relationship with Jesus is going and you responded with something like: “I know I am not where I need to be”?) 

 When Adam and Eve took of the tree and ate, they disobeyed God’s one and only command. (Gen. 2:16-17). This is known as the first or ‘original sin’. That is pretty much, what ‘sin’ is: It’s breaking the commandments of God. (1 John 3:4) Sounds more serious than ‘missing the mark’. 

When I said ‘something serious is about to go down’, I was not kidding. Paul mentions this in Romans 5:12 – “Therefore...through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Pandora’s box has nothing, on what Adam and Eve opened up that day. 

It cannot be said enough or stressed enough - God means what He says and He is quite serious about what He says. Yet, we continue to try and test Him, doubt Him, question Him, dismiss what He says, and outright rebel against, and reject Him. Yet...He still loves us and wants us to repent and come to Him so he can ‘fix’ the problem...that we created. Not obeying God does that...creates problems.  Big ones.

 And the second question we see there that God asked of them when they admitted to hiding because they were afraid and naked was: “Who told you that...?” (Gen. 3:11) 

A year or so ago, a good friend pointed that question out to me and I was captivated by it. “Who told you that?”, God asked of them. Who. Told. You. That? 

That...is a powerful question designed for some serious probing and reflection. God did not tell them they were ‘naked’. We do read there in vs. 7 that after they ate, “the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” Someone had to tell them that though, and it was not God. Which is why God asked them: “Who told you that you were naked?” 

 Look back to 2:25 where we are told after God had formed/made Eve from Adam’s rib, we read: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” 

 What changed? It was not like they had been robed with garments and then lost them. What changed was after they sinned, shame and guilt and condemnation came flooding in. They may have asked themselves if not each other...’what just happened?’ That is probably when the serpent added more words in response, although we are not told that here. But it is quite probable this is when they heard that told to them they ‘were naked’, among other things.  We've all heard 'those voices' when we fail God and others. 

 We know that Satan is the ‘father of all lies’. (John 8:44) We are introduced to him early on, as a liar. “Has God said?...you will not surely die...(if you eat off this tree)”. Yet, God clearly said there in Gen. 2:17...”you shall surely die!” 

When we believe a lie fed to us by Satan, it can change the trajectory of our lives in significant ways that not only affects us, but future generations as well; and never in a good way. (I'd read that last statement  again if I were you.) Once more, I point you to Romans 5:12. 

Why did God ask that question of them and have it recorded for all the world to read? It was not because God needed information or answers; rather He wanted them (and us) to stop and consider what it is that we hear and believe. (Mark 4:24- "Be careful of what you hear")  I would presume that is what prompted Paul to bring up that need for us to ‘bring in to captivity...every thought to the obedience of Christ’ when he was writing about this ‘spiritual war/conflict’ we all find ourselves in. (2 Cor. 10:5) 

Do you know when and why we are prone to being more receptive to ‘believing a lie’? When we don’t have a love for the truth. And God’s word, is truth. (2 Thess. 2:10-12; John 17:17) – Please go read those two verses now and mark them. Please? 

 So when God asks...”Who told you that?”, you might say He is wanting us to reconsider what we are taking in because ‘sin is crouching at the door’, and we better not open it. (Gen. 4:6-7; Eph. 4:27) 

**[Buckle up...it's about to get uncomfortable here] **

Who told you...that you were worthless and unlovable and ugly?...given you were formed by God and made in His image. (Jer. 1:5; Gen. 1:27; Jam. 3:9; Ps. 139:13-16)

Who told you...that your parents or spouse didn’t love you anymore...which led you to seek out 'love' in other places or other arms? 

Who told you that you would never amount to anything and so you have struggled your whole life in failure and defeat? 

Who told you that God could never love you, so you sought out seeking the ‘approval and praise’ of men? (John 12:43)

 

Who told you that you were a girl...when God clearly created you to be a man?

 

Who told you that you were ‘gay’? 

And who told you...that you would always continue to sin? 

...

Care to read some ‘truth’? 

“Whoever commits sin, is a slave to sin. I’ve come that you might know the truth and the truth will set you free. IF the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:32-36) 

“Go, and sin no more or something worse may come upon you.” (John 5:14) 

“Whoever abides in Him does not sin.” (1 John 3:6)

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9)

“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin;....and the wicked one does not touch him.” (1 John 5:18) 

Has God said? Yes, I believe He did as it is right there in your bible. 

Any time we hear or read God’s word...and we want to follow it up with a loud ‘but’....we end up looking like one...(with an added ‘t’). 

We can debate all day long as to whether a person is ‘saved’ or not, how one can ‘get saved’ or can they ever become ‘unsaved’; and honestly, I think many of us have failed, or never been taught, to understand what it is that we are actually ‘saved’ from. 

Which is why I always feel the Spirit wants to redirect this discussion back to this one question: “Are we abiding in Him?” 

Are you?

Are you abiding in Him?  I only ask this because regarding yesterday's post and 'keeping that flame lit'...abiding in Him is how you do that. ;-). I mean, it is the ONLY way you can do that.

That is a question designed not to solicit a ‘yes or no’ answer; on the contrary, it is to get you thinking deeply... as to what it really means to abide in Him. - John 15:1-8, 1 John 2:3-6 and 3:6,24 would be a good place to begin. Then throw 2 Cor. 13:5 in for good measure. 

 I’m praying for you.