Not Far

SCRIPTURE: Acts 17:26-28NLT From one man (or blood) he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist.

THOUGHT: Getting around our house in the night would be simpler if our dog didn’t sometimes decide to lay right in the path. My eyes are open, but I can’t see a thing, so I inch forward, toes feeling for carpet or dog, hands outstretched for the edge of the dresser or doorway. I’ve stumbled over her several times, poor thing, but never fallen, for which I thank God – and I’m sure she does too.

Walking around like this is the metaphor Paul uses to describe the journey of the nations toward God when no one knows the basics of how God can be found. Such curious language, “feel their way toward him;” other translations say feel after, reach out for, grasp, grope for, and search all around for.

It’s a picture of a world in the dark, using human wisdom to grope for answers while God is like oxygen – all around, even in the dark giving life. Unseen, but powerfully, gratefully there.

SONG: Great Are You, Lord https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqV6i98SkA

PRAYER: So many times I’ve wished I could see you, God. I’ve wished I could find hard matter in a hard matter world. But it is your invisible nature that allows you to be everywhere. Like the air that I breathe, you surround me, fill me, and offer life. So close, and yet so easy to overlook, take for granted, ignore. And therein lies the stumble.