"The Exasperating Patience of God"

I have been complaining to some of you recently about my Captain Irony moment of last week. For the two of you I haven't whined to yet, the story is that I found myself stuck in traffic - a 4 mile commute taking 40 minutes on account of the state high school basketball tournament - while listening to a podcast/talk on reconciliation, exasperation, and impatience. I found myself not amused.

God's humor notwithstanding, the talk - "The Exasperating Patience of God" by Sam Wells - was really good. Here it is, with an except that especially resonated with me.

In Genesis 3 God says to Adam and  Eve, ‘Where are you?’ And in Genesis 4 God says to Cain, ‘Where is your brother?’ And God keeps asking Israel these same two questions throughout the Old Testament; and has been asking us the same two questions ever since. ‘Where are you?’ and ‘Where is your brother?’ – questions that name the conflict between humanity and God and between humans and one another.