Acts 17:27
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Thoughts for Today:
We are in the middle of a five part series entitled The Many Faces of God. We've completed God the Creator, God the Provider, and God the Ruler. Paul pauses here for a moment and gives us the answer to one of life's really big questions: "Why does stuff happen?" Paul's not just talking about good things or bad things, but everything; and he answers, "God did this so that men would seek him..."
Take a minute and let that roll over and through you: Everything that has happened to me, is happening to me right now, and will happen to me later today, tomorrow, next week, and next year is happening so that I would seek God.
The next part of our passage today says a lot about how this happens, "and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." Let's look at each a little closer:
* Perhaps -- would indicate we have a choice and we will not always seek Him regardless of our circumstance.
* Reach out -- is an action on our part; we have to choose to go to Him.
* Find Him -- a sticky one; too often our answers come from our friends or popular opinion; what God wants is a personal relationship with Him and more importantly -- Him alone.
* He is not far -- whenever I am in trouble, when I've messed up in some way, shape or form, I really feel far from God; but the distance is from my guilt or unrepentance, not from God.
God is always as near as our humility and request for forgiveness and help allows. The question remains, will we seek Him?
Take a minute and let that roll over and through you: Everything that has happened to me, is happening to me right now, and will happen to me later today, tomorrow, next week, and next year is happening so that I would seek God.
The next part of our passage today says a lot about how this happens, "and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." Let's look at each a little closer:
* Perhaps -- would indicate we have a choice and we will not always seek Him regardless of our circumstance.
* Reach out -- is an action on our part; we have to choose to go to Him.
* Find Him -- a sticky one; too often our answers come from our friends or popular opinion; what God wants is a personal relationship with Him and more importantly -- Him alone.
* He is not far -- whenever I am in trouble, when I've messed up in some way, shape or form, I really feel far from God; but the distance is from my guilt or unrepentance, not from God.
God is always as near as our humility and request for forgiveness and help allows. The question remains, will we seek Him?
Questions to Ponder:
The phrases we looked at say a lot about us and our relationship with God. Think about whatever circumstance you are in right now (whether good, bad or in between), and ask yourself, "Am I choosing to seek God?" Are you reaching out to Him? Is it He and He alone that you seek or is it money, power, or position? Don't ask, "Where is God?" Instead ask, "Where am I?" Are you bound by guilt, unrepentance or something else? How can you freely seek God? What choice will you make today when stuff happens?
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