Experiencing God

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Scripture: Acts 10:36 – 48

You know the message [God] sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ – he is the Lord of all. Read more…

Looking to Sunday

by Elaine Poproski

If you grew up going to Sunday School or if you’ve ever read a children’s Bible, you’re probably familiar with the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. (If you’re not familiar with the story, you can read it in Daniel 6 or, if you’d like a more entertaining presentation of the story, check out the Veggietales version on YouTube.) In short, Daniel is shut into a den of lions as a punishment for not worshiping the king. But God closed the mouths of the lions and Daniel was unscathed. As the story ends, the king is amazed by the power and presence of Daniel’s God and says this:

I make a decree that in all my royal dominion people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel:

“For he is the living God, enduring forever.
His kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion has no end.
He delivers and rescues,
he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth;
for he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”

The Bible is full of these kinds of stories and declarations about God. All through the Old and New Testaments we’re presented with a God who is alive and involved in the world. Ours is not a God who remains distant and uninterested. Ours is not a God off entertaining himself somewhere, oblivious to the happenings of his creation. Our God is the living God, enduring forever.

I wonder if we believe that.

Do we believe, not just that God is alive, but that he is actively involved in the world? Do we believe that he still cares like he did in the Old Testament? Do we believe he sees the state of our world and is doing something about it? Do we believe the king’s declaration that God is “the living God, enduring forever” and that “he delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth”?

Do we believe that our God isn’t simply interested in being known intellectually, but that he wants to be known relationally? Do we believe that just as we experience people in our lives, God wants us to experience him?

On Sunday we’re going to be talking about, and hopefully experiencing, our God who wants to be known by us. As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time considering whether or not you want to know God this way. Perhaps spend some time considering if there are things in your life that are barriers to knowing God. Perhaps spend some time with God, asking him to remove those barriers and inviting him to make himself known to you.