The Most Frequently Asked Question in Genesis

Week 2 focuses on the stories of Abraham and Sarah.

Have you noticed that in Genesis God keeps asking people where they are? 

• Gen. 3:9 The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"

• Gen. 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"

• Gen. 16:8 The Angel of the LORD said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?"

• Gen. 18:9 The three visitors to Abraham ask, "Where is Sarah your wife?"

Asking where someone is is a very basic question that we would expect to show up in just about any book. But here in Genesis God asks where someone is 4 times. Surely God does know where they are! Perhaps in the case of Adam and Eve, it is an early indication of the breach made in their relationship with God. I find it poignant to think of the Creator coming down to the garden to walk with man and woman, and he finds that things have gone horribly wrong and his beloved creation has gone missing.

In the case of Cain, God's "where" question gives Cain the opportunity to confess his sin, which he shrugs off with a defiant "Am I my brother's keeper?"

In the case of Hagar, the question seems to me a gentle one, an invitation for her to tell her story. This is a beautiful story of the angel of God pursuing a runaway servant girl into the desert and urging her to return home. Hagar herself is floored that the angel of the Lord should appear to her. This is not the only time Hagar will encounter the angel in the desert.

And in the case of Sarah, I think it is a simple question that highlights that Sarah is listening to their conversation from the tent. That these divine visitors should ask about her indicates her importance to the story that is unfolding.

To me, these questions suggest that God is pursuing humanity, sometimes to seek justice, sometimes to seek their truthful confession, sometimes to give them a promise, sometimes to bring them home. God truly has not washed his hands of humanity; he is seeking them out to involve them in his plan. Even back in the day of Adam and Abraham, we see that God was then, as now, the Hound of Heaven.

If you have an idea about why God asks these questions, I'd love to hear them in the comments section.

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As we read these stories about Abraham and Sarah, I keep thinking of this song by Andrew Peterson, "Canaan Bound."