Dear Friends,
Britain is celebrating Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee. Have you watched any of the festivities on social media or TV? The Queen is 98 years old and has been the monarch of England for 70 years! Many see her as a blessing to the country, but are also aware that her era will soon end.
In contrast, unlike human dynasty, God's sovereignty does not end. The sovereign God wants to bless us eternally because He created us for His good purpose. He reveals himself to us through his invisible qualities and divine nature (Romans 1:19-20), and he uses life situations to help us seek him (Acts 17:26-27). However, the whole world is under the evil one and lies about the one true God (2 Corinthians 4:4).
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)
26From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17: 26-27)
4In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
Reflection
The Bible teaches us that every circumstance in our lives, even the difficult ones, can be used for God’s glory. Francis discussed how Acts 17:26–27 explains that God has determined our life and allowed events to happen so we could turn to him. What kinds of situations have caused you to run toward God? How have certain events in your life pushed you closer to him?
We’ve been told by the world that everything’s random or by chance, but God determined our lives long ago. He’s been there with us the whole time. Francis shared that the death of his parents was tragic and difficult but ultimately pushed him to find God. When you look back over your life, especially during the hard seasons, where do you see God stepping in to show you his love?
We were reminded in this session that there is also an enemy at work. Second Corinthians 4:4 explains that the enemy’s strategy is to keep people from seeing the glory of God by blinding their minds—the whole world is deceived by the evil one. Where do you see the impact of Satan blinding the minds of believers and unbelievers in our culture?
Take Away
Life can be really hard. But life without God is much harder. We’re all going to experience difficult times, but the truth is that we have a God who is near to us and walks alongside us as we experience the highs and lows. Take some time to think through all the difficult or chaotic seasons of your life. Ask God to help you see the good in those situations. Pray he’d empower you to be thankful through all circumstances, not just the good ones.
Let's finish our time by reading Acts 17: 26-27 in the Message translation:
He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. 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.
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