18 May 2018

Encouragement from the scriptures

Posted in Bible Engagement / Prayer


“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him – though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist.” — Acts 17:27-28

As a child I remember trying to look over the large stone wall of our neighbour’s yard to see what was there. The best vantage point was when my dad swung me on my swing set.

If dad pushed me high enough, I could peer over the wall for just a second and see my neighbour’s vegetable patch.

“What do you see?” my dad would ask.

“Cabbages,” I would respond.

On the very next swing he would repeat the question, ‘What do you see?’

“Radishes,” came my reply.

As the game continued I’d list more vegetables… It didn’t really matter that half the things I reported to him actually grew under the ground. What mattered was my dad inviting me to explore the unseen.

It’s a funny little memory, but it’s one that still makes me smile and want to explore the mystery of what lies beyond that wall, that horizon… this life. I have let the unknown invite me rather than repel me.

In my search I have found hope that there is something awaiting my discovery and engagement, even beyond my last horizon.

My faith instructs my heart to be expectant.

All too often we disallow ourselves the mystery.

I don’t think there would have been much joy in my father’s invitation if my reply had simply been, “I only see a wall’.

If all I ever saw was the barrier, the invitation would have become tiresome.

If I wasn’t willing to explore with an expectant heart, and if I’d just decided there was nothing more, then what becomes the point of life?

There is an amazing mystery that we are invited to explore. The Bible explains this when it says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has even conceived the things that God has in store for those who love him.”

Engage the mystery. Swing a little higher, reach a little further, look a little harder…

Do you want to see?

It’s just over the horizon…



Tim Lovell

Pastor, Goodlife Community Church

1 Comment

  1. I identify with this story because as a child I loved looking into other peoples’ yards to see if they were interesting and what they had there. When I was touched by the Holy Spirit it changed my viewpoint of everything. It was as though I had been lifted up and could see both sides of the fence at the same time. Every judge and magistrate in the land should be given the opportunity to see both sides of the story therefore they should all seek God with all their hearts.

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