Contributor Article – Adam…Where Art Thou (Work Week Word)

Adam…Where Art Thou? Genesis 3:9

In this day and age, we as fathers have fallen from the place where we need to be. If you don’t believe me go to the jails and prisons right now. The problem has gotten so bad, that there was an influx of prisons being built around the country. Gang activity has increased at an alarming rate over the past years to the point that the federal government now has a special unit to monitor their activity. I’m sure if you visit your local law enforcement office, you will see special units for the same activity. Look at the drug rate in your local city; scary, isn’t it? Back in the 60s and 70s, there was more of a recreational use for anything from pot to heroin. I’m not endorsing the use of any drug, but now the use has gotten out of control that elementary school kids are now buying and selling drugs to their peers. These things that are going on in the world has the kids and our women asking this simple question…Adam, where art thou?

Statistics show that out of four black men (ages 18-25); one will be successful while the other three will somehow fall by the waste side. Yes, we can make excuse after excuse after excuse to why we aren’t doing, what is going on to prevent our actions, the time we don’t have because of a certain thing…but I’m here to tell you that if we don’t do it, someone or something else will do it for us. For our little girls, the rate for them having premarital sex is astronomical not to mention the number of them that have contracted HIV/AIDS from their partner without knowing. The first person the girl will love is their father, but if the father isn’t there, who or what will she turn to for love? With all these things going on, the times are screaming to the black man as to say, “Adam, where art thou?”

My God, the divorce rate for the family in our nation is at an all time high; with the black family it is even higher. We leave our women to be mother and father for our kids which is unacceptable. With this action, there are various variables that come in to place, but it all boils down to the man is out of place and leaving the family…HIS family vulnerable to the elements of life. Man is the head of all things and the father had of his family; if the head isn’t there what will happen to the family? Our prisons, streets, halfway houses, etc., are filled with broken homes, broken dreams and most of all broken kids. All this to say to our men today for the voices of all that can’t find a voice to say it: Adam…WHERE ART THOU?

Adam had just eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and he and Eve had made clothes out of fig leaves to hide their bodies (Gen. 3:7). As God was walking in the Garden of Eden, Adam heard the voice of God and decided to hide himself from Him. When God didn’t see Adam, he ask the question, where art thou? Adam, in turn, answered God by saying (paraphrased) “we heard you but we didn’t have on any clothes that we hid from you” (Gen 3:10). First, we as men need not to let the things of this world disrupt us from our commandments. See, we want to place the blame on the serpent and/or Eve for the mess that happened, but it was ADAM that had received the commandment to NOT eat of the tree (Gen. 2:17). He let peer pressure sucker him into doing the thing that was told not to do…How many of us know about peer pressure? Don’t let the pressure succumb you to life’s failure…Adam, where art thou?

Second, once realizing he was exposed, Adam went into hiding. The world has exposed us to the great injustice that we are doing as men and where are we…HIDING. It’s time for us to come to the forefront and take care of the things that are lacking. But shame and pride have stepped in and taken the place of love and trust. Come from out of the woods and show yourself…stop hiding and the world will stop asking, Adam…where art thou?

Third, God was searching for Adam to be in the place where he SHOULD have been, but he wasn’t there. They knew that they were exposed as soon as they ate the fruit and in the cool of the day, ran from the voice of God. But God called unto him and said where are you? God, being all knowing knew that Adam had done an incurable deed and wanted him to come clean with his situation. It wasn’t the question of NOT knowing where he was, but to let Adam know I know WHERE you are. Man had already had the gift of free will but it wasn’t until the biting of the fruit that man had been placed in this position. John Wesley states that “if God had not called to him to reduce him, his condition had been as desperate as that of fallen angels”. But God was giving Adam a chance to admit his wrongdoing.

Now is the time for fathers to admit our mistakes. We have to come to God and stop hiding. We need to restore our families; our children and most importantly ourselves back to right standings. We can’t continue to look for our women to raise our boys to become men. We have to be the primary focus of our little girls love and not the things of this world. We need to honor our women as was told to us and not disrespect their position. When Adam comes home the overcrowding of jails will cease. When Adam is home the streets will have to yield our young men from gang activity. When Adam is home the hospitals will stop looking to us as the donor of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When Adam is home his wife can rest assured that God is leading the family through him. But we have to be willing to let God lead. Let’s stop the world from asking, “Adam…where art thou?”

Work Your Faith!

Dwayne Moore is from Tallahassee, FL. He is the author of the devotional Work Week Word blog, “it’s something to get you through the work week”. We is a member of the Brown Bethel PB Church and also manages a gospel group, The New Calvary Boyz. You can follow both on Twitter @WorkWeekWord and @NewCalvaryBoyz

Something to get you through the work week.

http://workweekword.blogspot.com/

• Work Week Word-Thursday’s Word-”I Have Fallen, But I Can Get Up”
• Work Week Word-Thursday’s Word-”The Walls Came Tumbling Down”