Where Are You? By Candace Carle
Being content in our heart is not only about being grateful for what we have, but it’s also about being grateful for who we are.
Most Identity searches on the internet boil down to 3 deeper questions:
Who am I?
Do I matter?
What am I here for?
Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMPC
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
You didn’t come from nothing, you have value and purpose. You came from the creator of Heaven and Earth who sees you, knows you and loves you.
Genesis 1:27 TPT
“So God created man and woman and shaped them with his image inside them. In his own beautiful image, he created his masterpiece. Yes, male and female he created them.”
You are His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10)
God is proud of how He created you.
Genesis 3:1-10 AMPC
“NOW THE serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? [Rev. 12:9-11.] And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden, Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, [II Cor. 11:3.] For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity. And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron-like girdles. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
“They knew they were naked.” It’s not a physical awareness as much as a spiritual one. Aware of the separation. Aware of shame. Aware of sin.
Fig leaves are a picture for whatever we hide behind to cover our spiritual shame.
Our works are never enough to cover our sinfulness. The robe of righteousness that Jesus clothes us in is perfect.
Isaiah 61:10 TPT
“I will sing and greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My whole being vibrates with shouts of joy in my God! For he has dressed me with salvation and wrapped me in the robe of his righteousness! I appear like a bridegroom on his wedding day, decked out with a beautiful sash, or like a radiant bride adorned with sparkling jewels.”
We often hide ourselves because of fear.
He knows you (Psalm 139)
We are never alone. Never abandoned. Never forgotten. Never left behind. Never rejected by His love.
This is the first question God asks in the Bible. “Where are you?”
Fig leaves:
Identity through social status
Identity through jobs/positions
Identity through the opinions of others
Identity through things I own/ financial status
Identity through social media version of myself
Identity through achievements
Identity through romantic relationships
Identity through physical appearance
Identity through good works/ being a good person
Identity through the friends I have
It was out of love, not hate, that he took them from the Garden.
2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT
“For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with Him.”
He created you because He wants to be with you. Because this world needs who you are. They need to see the picture of Jesus only you can share.
He delights in YOU.