May 28 - Acts 17: Obsessed With God

Paul was appalled by what he saw in Athens. The city was a junkyard of idols. (17:16) The Greeks had no idea who Almighty God was, so God gave Paul the privilege of introducing them to their Creator. Paul told them about the all-knowing, all-powerful God who created them and desired to know them personally.

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. We live and move in him, can't get away from him! (17:26-28)

While I trust this is true, I don't always live as if it's true. I slip back into fleshly living and act as if God is far away from me. I become self-absorbed, pretending I can actually direct and control my own life. I bow down in my own junkyard of idols, particularly to my idols of control and comfort.

Oswald Chambers gave me insight into what my life would look life if I lived and moved in God, as Paul describes:

"Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, 'No, by nothing,' but all of us are obsessed by something - usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be obsessed by the presence of God. A child's awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In the same way, we are to "live and move and have our being" in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives. 

"If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives - not concerns, not tribulation, not worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy." My Utmost for His Highest

I confess that it's easy for me to become obsessed with my experience of God, rather than with God Himself. Honestly, they often seem like two sides of a coin to me. It's often easier to feel closer to God when He's answering my prayers and things are going my way. But my difficult circumstances this year with the adoption and with extended family relationships have only reaffirmed that God is always near by, ready for me to lean into Him and to trust Him with every situation.

I want to consistently walk in that abiding awareness of God. I want to live and move and breathe in Him and not fall back into self-reliance. I loved Chambers' analogy of the mother and child's abiding relationship. Being fully in that stage of life with my kids, I get it, and I want to be that obsessed with my God.

Lord, I pray You'll continue to turn my heart back to You, moment by moment. May I repent of my junkyard of idols and learn to abide in You fully, regardless of circumstances. I pray You alone will be my obsession.