I read an interesting passage in my devotional time this morning. Acts 17:27-28 (ESV) – “that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is not far from each one of us, for ‘in Him we live and move and have our being,’ as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.'”* Two things captured my attention . . .
The first is a thought that fills my heart and leaves me in awe and that is the fact that God calls us “His descendants.” Not only is humanity created in His image, we are His descendants. For those who have chosen to engage with Him, we call Him Father and He brings a sense of belonging that we can find nowhere else.
As wonderful and awe-inspiring as that is, that is a potential topic for another day.
I want to focus on a second phrase: “that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is not far from each one of us.”
The context of the passage is Paul speaking to the “men of Athens” who were “very religious” even to have an altar “to an ‘Unknown God.'”
My initial thought was, “feel their way toward Him”??? I read it originally in the NASB, which states, “feel around for Him.” Why, God, would the author say that we need to feel our way to find You?
Consider this scenario – you are blind as the proverbial bat and the dog jumps up in your face and sends your glasses flying. No one else is at home, so what are you going to do (after you holler at the dog)? You are going to feel around to find your glasses because you are unable to see without them.
We have to “feel our way toward” the Father because without Him, we are spiritually blind. It is interesting how much we see conversations about sight in the New Testament. There are many conditions of which people could have been healed by Jesus, and yet frequently the Gospels share stories of Jesus restoring people’s sight. That seems significant.
The word “blind” occurs in some form 50 times in the New Testament in the ESV^. Of those, 44 times are in the Gospels, which tell the story of Jesus. We see the word 14 times in Matthew where it culminates with chapter 23 and Jesus addressing the religious leaders – “blind guides,” “blind fools,” “blind men,” “blind Pharisee”! Jesus challenges His followers to follow the things that they teach, but not the things that they did because they did not practice what they were preaching. Additionally, they missed the point, as they were more focused on the works of the Law than they were on its intent – love the people in order to draw them to the One and Only God – and most of them completely missed the Messiah.
But note this also about the phrase from Acts. We need to look for God; however, He is not far from each one of us. We have to take the step toward Him, but guess what, Dear Friend, He wants to be found! It is not the childhood game of hide and seek where you looked for the best hiding place in the most remote location. No, our God is close – He wants only for us to respond to the nudging of our spirit, reach out our arms and “feel for Him,” and He responds by making Himself known in the way that He knows will best reach us.
One of my favorite verses: “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD” (Jer 29:13-14a ESV). Even if you are a Christ-follower, continue to “feel for Him,” to that next step of growth, change or challenge that He wants you to take.
*From Aratus’s poem “Phainomena”
^ESV: English Standard Version
Denise Travanti 