“Where was God when Adam and Eve were disobeying Him and eating the forbidden fruit?” That’s the question I asked at the Men’s Home Bible Study one night. There were puzzled looks on the guy’s faces as they knew their answer should be “He was there with them,” but then again, if He was there, surely He would have stopped them from “messing up.” The Bible says that after Adam and Eve sinned they heard the sound of God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day and hid themselves from Him (Genesis 3:8). This infers that He was not “with them” and was actually “away” from them during that moment in time.
In the Parable of the Talents, we find a story about a Master who gave three of His servants each a certain amount of money to do business with. Then Jesus tells us that the Master went on a journey to a distant country (Matthew 25). It was while the Master was “away” that the servants made their choices to either invest their money wisely and bring increase or hide it away out of fear.
Now, here’s the point of the message. God will give you a command or a word and then “leave you to yourself” to see what you will do with the command He’s given you. God will give you a talent and a gifting and then “leave you to yourself” to see what you will do with the gift He’s given you. Of course, we understand that “God is always with us” and He “never leaves us or forsakes us.” But, both of these stories show us plainly that God doesn’t hover over us and micromanage us to the point where our decisions and choices are not our own. It is not what we do when the boss is in the room that defines our work ethic … it is what we do when we think he’s not looking … when he’s not around.
God is looking for people He can trust with the job He’s given them to do. He will test us to see what we’re made of. The decisions and choices that we make when it seems that He’s “away” will be the foundation to our character and integrity. He will come to us afterwards, after choices, decisions and investments have been made and question us … “Where are you? Have you done what I told you not to do? What have you done with the talent that I’ve given you?”
Everyone will give an account to God one day … not just preachers … not just Christians! Everyone has received commands from God and everyone has received gifts and talents from Him. What you do with them while you’re here is up to you. But one day you will give an account … it is certain. Make wise use of the word and the gift that He has given you! Amen!
