When Lisa is asleep in the mornings I use a little flashlight to make my way
around the room so as not to disturb her. I always keep it in the same place
so that when my alarm goes off I can just reach out my hand and find it.
Well one morning last week when I woke up I knocked it off my end table when
I was reaching for it so I was left in the dark. As you might expect, I got
down on my hands and knees and groped around trying to find my only source
of light. After all, what else can you do when you can’t use the flashlight
that you use to find things? 🙂
As God would have it, this is the same week in which one of my devotionals
focused me on this passage:
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven
and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped
with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life,
breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood[ c]
has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their
dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might
grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us Acts
17:24-27
I love this passage because it reminds us of some important things about God
and mankind. The passage tells us of God’s glory as He is an uncontainable,
self-sustaining, powerfully creative Lord who is sovereign over all things
including us. It also tells us of His desire and hope that all people should
seek and find Him. God uses this passage to teach us that finding God is not
a given…and that people will have to “grope” for Him in order to know
where He is. The good news is that they don’t have to grope around a large
search area because he is “not far from each one of us.”
As I read this passage God laid on my heart a wonderful thought. One of the
reasons that Jesus was sent was so that in our darkness we could more
clearly find and embrace God. Consider this verse:
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his
glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of
grace and truth.” John
moment, or a short season, or in some way that so showcased His divinity
that we could not even approach Him. No…He made His dwelling among us. He
came close.
In that same chapter God’s word also teaches us:
” The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world
did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did
not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in
his name, he gave the right to become children of God- 13 children born not
of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of
God.” John 1:9-13
“The true light.” Isn’t it a wonderful picture? There we are groping around
in the dark, trying to find God, and Jesus comes and dwells among us, as the
true light that we may find Him.
Beloved, please don’t ever consider God far from you. He has gone to great
lengths to make Himself known to us and in your times of darkness, as you
are groping around for light, He is close to you. Just get down on your
knees…you’ll find Him.
I found my flashlight and I was then able to see.
God found me, and I was then able to see.
For Him,
Rob