Acts 17:28 In Him we live and move and have our being …
In times of uncertainty people have asked, “Where was God?” Even Christians can feel that God was somehow asleep or on vacation. Paul’s words in Acts 17 are a beautiful description of the reality of God and the existence of all people within His power, His mercy, and His nature. Though we exist in God and cannot exist without God, we are born ignorant of His presence. In that ignorance, people float on the ocean of His grace asking why there is no water. They breathe deep His eternal love asking why there is no air. Paul understood this and attempted to open the hearts of the Athenians to the reality of God.
God who made the world and everything in it does not live in temples made by human hands, nor is He served by humans, as if He needed anything. It is He who gives life and breath and everything to all that exist. He has also set a time and place for each person to live so that they might search for God and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him – though He isn’t far from any of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being. Therefore, although God has overlooked times of ignorance, He now commands all people everywhere to repent, for He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness, by One whom He designated, having signified to everyone by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:24-28,30,31)
Paul’s challenge wasn’t that the people didn’t believe in God, rather he challenged their wrong concepts about God. Currently, as the norms of life have been shaken, many people are asking questions about the meaning of life, God, and His existence. That’s positive. It is a great time to pray that people open their hearts to the truth that only the Holy Spirit can reveal: that God isn’t limited to a building or the realms of heaven, but He is near. He is the ocean that surrounds us and the air that we breathe. In Him we live and move and exist. That is a comforting place to begin.