Where's God?

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’  Acts 17:24-28

The Apostle Paul spoke those words describing who God is while addressing a crowd in Athens, Greece. Paul had observed that Athens was a city full of idols so the point of his message to the Athenians distinguished between inanimate idols made by human hands, whom they served in temples, in contrast to a living God who gave them life and breath and didn't need anything from them in return. He contrasted their impersonal idols to a personal God who desires a relationship with them. Paul described a living God who is close enough for them to reach out to.

The same message applies to us today as to when Paul made his address to the Athenians over 2,000 years ago.  God is close enough for us to reach out and find him. No matter where we live, no matter our situation in life – God desires to make himself known to us. No matter what race or religion or whether agnostic or atheist, God created us and appointed us to live in the time period in which we are now living. Since God put us where we are and has situated himself in our midst, will we reach out our hand toward him, or withdraw our hand and go our own way?