When He Speaks

Genesis 3:9–10 (ESV) But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

One of the minor details of Genesis 3 is the power of God's voice. Here Adam and Eve are - quivering in their loin cloths - waiting for God to strike them dead... after all that was the initial deal:

Genesis 2:17 (ESV) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”'

They eat. Their fate is sealed. The rumbling of the Lord God through the Garden has them attempting one last ditch effort of self-salvation - they run and hide. Like every human being on planet Earth when it comes to the God conversation. 

Want to see a conversation go poorly fast? Bring up God. See how unbelievers squirm and feel out of place, like you just told them you pick your nose for a living. It's the human condition that validates the Bible time and time again. God is a touch subject for hiding sinners.

But did you notice what happened in Genesis 3? 
God speaks...and Adam responds immediately.

He's trying to hide. But he can do so no longer. When God speaks, we respond.
He spoke to Moses - reluctant recluse on the back side of a desert for 40 years... and Moses responded, faced his demons and past and led the nation out of slavery. 
He spoke to Samuel - and the Kingship of Israel was born.
He spoke to Jonah - and though he tried desperately to run, in the end God's will won.
He spoke the fishermen and they left everything.
He spoke to tax collectors and they left everything too.
He even spoke to a dead guy named Lazarus and he came out of his grave!

When God speaks people respond. And they always will.
John 5:25 (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

He will speak in the end... finally and completely...
Revelation 20:12–13 (ESV) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

That's how it goes. Just as Adam cannot hide when God addresses him personally, so too humanity is dethroned regularly at His voice. This the nature of our witness... God wants to be WITH you - individually and personally. He is speaking to you right now and looking for relationship. You will respond one way or the other. Either you will chide and blame - like Adam and Eve. Or you will fall to your knees in repentance like David and Peter. It's entirely different for every human being and an unfathomable mystery as such. Who will respond favorably and who will respond negatively? Those are questions we aren't supposed to ask. We are simply to speak the Word and let God do the rest.