“God did this, so men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:27-28, NIV)
While watching the US Open early this summer, I was reminded of my own experience at Pebble Beach. I thought back to my wonder at such a spectacular part of God’s creation when I walked those same fairways. What exactly is so inspiring about this place where land meets sea?
Whenever my eyes take in the wonder of a place like Pebble Beach, my heart is prompted to seek out its source. Creation in all its beauty is designed to make us look outside ourselves. Even the golfers in the throes of that high-pressure competition described how therapeutic it was to just stop and look at the scenery around them. They said it helped them put what they were doing in perspective. It helped them to remain calm and focused. Funny, that is exactly what God does in our life if we look to him.
Our scripture passage for today describes what the apostle Paul discussed with the great philosophers of Athens. They wanted to understand which god he was talking about, for they believed in many gods, even one they described as the unknown god. I guess they were hedging their bets and didn’t want to miss some god that they were not acquainted with yet. Paul went on to tell them that his God had created men and had set them in locations and times of his choosing, and he created men so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.
We seek after many things, trying to satisfy that longing. Nothing we accomplish or acquire quite satisfies.That’s where we all find ourselves: surrounded by the beauty of the creation, which creates a longing in our hearts to know more about where it came from. It is part of God’s plan to introduce himself to us. We love the beauty of nature because it makes us want to reach out and find God. God went one step further and sent his son Jesus to be a living example of who he is. Nature creates the longing for more.
Jesus demonstrates the answer to that longing. A man who lived and died in relative obscurity but whose life and vision changed the world. Behind his visible nature was something far greater!
We are all born with a longing in our heart for something more. We seek after many things, trying to satisfy that longing. Nothing we accomplish or acquire quite satisfies. We are always left with the feeling that there must be more. God is the more we want. We were made in his image and were designed to know him and exist in his presence. The answer to the question of beauty and its source lies in acknowledging the Creator. We were made for him and nothing will satisfy us until we are finally and forever in his presence. We were made to live and move and have our being in him. Nothing else will do.
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Linda Ballard
August 1, 2019
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
Photo by Jeff Hopper