Verse of the Day 5/25

Through the Bible - 2 Kings 10-12, Matthew 13:31-58       

 

Good morning,

I'm sure that we've all been through power outages at night where you are forced to "grope your way through the dark" until you can find a candle, flashlight or more recently a blackberry or i-phone to be able to see what is right in front of you.  Even when your are in familiar surroundings it is easy to bump into or trip over something (like my shoes that I left in the middle of the floor) when no light is present.

 

For today's verse we'll go to the book of Acts where in chapter 17, Luke uses the words to describe how we find God, you "feel your way toward Him and find Him" (ESV).  I'll post the verses from The Message

 

Acts 17:26-27 Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him!  The Message

 

Even though we may "grope for Him", He is always near, at our side.  The things that leave us in the dark can be natural storms or they can be the storms of life.  Sometimes the to come as one as in the recent tragedy of the tornado in Joplin.  My heart goes out to those that have lost loved ones and  seemingly everything they had in this world.  It is during these times, especially, when we may grope or feel our way towards Him when in reality He is drawing us to Him.

 

My prayer today is that God, who has been our help in ages past would be our hope for the days ahead, for those in Joplin and wherever you are.

 

Prayerfully read the words to the Isaac Watts hymn "O God Our Help in Ages Past". 

 

1. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Our shelter from the stormy blast,
   And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
   Thy saints have dwelt secure;
   Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
   And our defense is sure.

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV
Acts 17:22-31

 

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

 

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

 

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 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 every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed 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; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
NKJV