Day 172

2 Kings 1:1–2:25; Acts 13:42–14:7; Psalm 139:1-24; Proverbs 17:19-21

AS WE BEGAN the book of 2 Kings today, Elijah was taken into heaven by whirlwind, and his successor, Elisha, became the prominent prophetic voice throughout the land.

In Acts, we continued to travel with the apostle Paul on his first missionary journey. As we follow the story, it’s difficult not to notice the lightning rod the gospel was. Paul routinely found himself facing an angry mob for one reason or another, but behind all the negative reactions to the message of Jesus were a vast number of hearts awakening. Those awakened hearts produced more and more followers of Jesus everywhere Paul went, as we will continue to see.

In our reading from Psalms today, we were invited to consider the question Where is God not?

“If I go up to heaven, you are there,” we’re told. “If I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me” (Psalm 139:8-10).

Realizing that there is nowhere we can go to escape God’s presence brings up another important question: Why do we spend our whole lives trying to figure out where He is, when He is right here with us now?

Consider that God will be present in every thought, conversation, and action that you take, no matter where you are or what is going on. He is not distant; He is near. This should certainly comfort us, but it should also sober us. What would you rather God not hear you say or see you do? This thought alone can stop us in our tracks —and thank God for that. Because the things we would rather God not witness are the very things that will seduce us away from actively living in His presence.

PRAYER:

O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.