Almighty God Always Near Us; Inspiring God of Earth, Sky & Sea
Paul’s second missionary journey begins with a new companion-Silas. The team soon doubles in size as Timothy and Luke areadded. Initially given a warm reception in Philippi, Paul & Silas soon experience flogging and imprisonment for disrupting the profitable soothsaying business. But God uses even this to bring a jailer and his family to salvation.
American clergyman & hymn writer
Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892),
brother of the famous poet Henry
Longfellow, loved the seashore.
He once compiled a book called
Thalatta, including all the charming
bits of poetry in the language
about the sea and the seashore.
Like many of the psalms, this hymn
praises God for His involvement
in nature. Paul in Acts 17 wrote: the
invisible qualities of God are clearly
seen in what God has created.
Longfellow echoes Paul’s message
here. For God’s love and power are
clearly seen in the events of nature.
Lord, You Are Always Near Us:
He is the God who made the world
and everything in it… From one man
He created the nations throughout
the whole earth. God decided
beforehand when (nations) should
rise and fall, and He determines
their boundaries (Acts 17:24-26).
His Purpose in all of this was that
the nations should Seek After God
and perhaps feel their way towards
Him and find Him – though He Is
Not Far from any one of us (v27).
For In Him We Live and move
and have our being… For we
are also His offspring (v28).
Lord, help us to live with a strong
sense of purpose; and be open
to Your Purpose You have for us.
Help us to slow down enough
to see opportunities; not just big
things but also in everyday things.
Help me to be sensitive to people
and their needs; and be willing
to be Your hands & feet to them.
Help me Lord fulfill the spiritual
assignment You have for me. Amen.
Lord, You may seem nearer to us
when we seek & draw near to You.
But the reality and today’s passage
remind us You are always Near us.
Help me Lord notice Your Presence
in every situation, watching over me.
Praise You Lord for being Provider,
Guide, Shield, Healer and Comforter.
Even when it seems You’re far away,
You are in reality Nearby. Amen.
Lord, we want You to be the one
In Whom We Live & have our being.
We want to hear Your voice Lord,
above all other voices in our lives.
But we get bogged down in routine
and things that want our attention.
And we relegate You to Sundays and
times when we need Your rescue.
Lord, with all our human failings,
help us recognize Your presence.
Challenge, inspire and make us into
the people You want us to be. Amen.
God of the earth, the sky, the sea,
Maker of all above below,
Creation lives and moves in Thee,
Thy present life thru all doth flow…
Thy love is in the sunshine’s glow,
Thy life is in the quickening air;
When lightnings flash & storm blow,
There’s Thy power; Thy law is there..
We feel Thy calm at evening’s hour,
Thy grandeur in the march of night;
When the morning breaks in power,
We hear Thy word:Let there be light!