The most important part of this verse is the final word: ayeka (אַיֶּכָּה) translating to, “Where are you?”
But ayeka means
much more than that.
It is God’s gentle way of initiating a difficult
conversation by asking tenderly,
“What’s happened to you? Where do you
stand with respect to me?”
This single word powerfully expresses the broken relationship between humanity and God.