That We May Seek Him and Find Him
Scripture Reading — Acts 17:16-34
God did this so that [people] would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.
London’s Hyde Park is famous for its soapbox orators, speakers who stand on a box and talk to anyone who might stop and listen. Ancient Athens had its own version of Hyde Park, a place called the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, where philosophers would speak out and debate the latest ideas.
When the apostle Paul came to Athens on his second missionary journey (about 50 A.D.), he first went to the local synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. Then he did some street preaching in the marketplace. The philosophers who heard him there invited him to say more at the Areopagus. They were curious because he seemed to be advocating a foreign god, one that was new to them. Afterward, some concluded that Paul was just a blabbermouth. But others believed his message and found God.
This month’s devotions are somewhat like Paul’s talks in Athens. They are addressed to many who are already familiar with the Bible, and to many for whom the Bible is not so familiar. This month we will explain who God is, based on his self-revelation recorded in the Bible. God promises that those who seek him will find him, for he has been seeking us all along. As Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
How wonderful are your words, O God: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). May we come to know you better through Jesus Christ. Amen.
About the author — George Young
George Young, a native New Yorker, worked as a taxi driver in New York City before studying to become a pastor. Then he, his wife Ruth, and their children were missionaries for many years in northeastern Japan. They worked with ministers and believers from the Reformed Church in Japan to spread the good news of salvation in Christ and establish new churches. Now George and Ruth are retired and live in the northeastern United States, nearer to their children and grandchildren.
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