“Adam, Where Art Thou?”

On Friday I went to see the tenth anniversary edition of “Courageous”, another outstanding production by the Kendrick Brothers. Two weeks prior, I went to see their production of “Show Me the Father”. After I saw that production, I knew why the two were both sent to the big screen in the same month. The question resounds throughout our nation, “show me the Father”!

The anger that manifests itself in drive-by, and target less shootings stems from more than one factor, but if you trace it back, almost all of those that get involved in this, are either without the knowledge of their fathers or have fathers who have not invested in them. The Apostle Paul made this statement:

I’m not writing all this as a neighborhood scold to shame you. I’m writing as a father to you, my children. I love you and want you to grow up well, not spoiled. There are a lot of people around who can’t wait to tell you what you’ve done wrong, but there aren’t many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up. It was as Jesus helped me proclaim God’s Message to you that I became your father. I’m not, you know, asking you to do anything I’m not already doing myself. 1 Corinthians 4:15 (MSG)

We see clearly in this scripture that Paul was not only willing to take the time to teach these new converts how to be a godly man, he also showed them by example. He was willing to go the distance and make the investment in their lives to see that they were on the right track for a godly life that they could in turn reproduce the same effort with their children.

This is God’s design. God carefully crafted Adam to be His representative over the earth. He knew the grave responsibility he would have and God saw to it that Adam had everything invested in him that he would need to do the job. Unfortunately, there was one job that Adam failed to succeed in, keeping his wife from the temptation of the fruit of the forbidden tree. It was then that God had to call out, “Adam, where art thou?”

That call continues today. Too many fathers are not answering the high calling that God has charged them with. It is not for lack of resources, it is for lack of knowledge that they have these resources. Women cannot put all the blame on them for too often we either take the role of the man, when he falters or fails, or we criticize him for not being all he could be, even though he may not have had someone to model it for him.

The problem seems to be impossible, not nothing is impossible for God. I hear the following song resonating in my heart:

Do Something ” by Matthew West | from the album Into the Light

I woke up this morning 
Saw a world full of trouble now 
Thought, how’d we ever get so far down 
How’s it ever gonna turn around 
So I turned my eyes to Heaven 
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?” 
Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of 
People living in poverty 
Children sold into slavery 
The thought disgusted me 
So, I shook my fist at Heaven 
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?” 
He said, “I did, I created you” 
If not us, then who 
If not me and you 
Right now, it’s time for us to do something 
If not now, then when 
Will we see an end 
To all this pain 
It’s not enough to do nothing 
It’s time for us to do something...

Let’s start with prayer.

Maria