Good morning, friends.
Our verse for today comes from Acts 4:24, “So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: ‘Sovereign Lord, who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them.’”
There are people who get introduced or referred to in a certain way because of something momentous that they have achieved. In sports, someone might be known as the Nine-Time Gold Medalist John Doe. Entertainment gives us the Academy Award-Winner Jane Doe. Isn’t Bill Gates’ actual first name Microsoft Founder? And certainly you’ve heard of Billionaire Warren Buffet? Even God, who is referred to in many ways throughout scripture, had a tagline that He used almost a hundred times when dealing with His Hebrew children, which was “Who brought you out of Egypt.” Certainly that victorious event was monumental in the establishment of His people and the ongoing fulfillment of His covenant with them. And now, as Peter and John gathered together with their friends to tell them about the threats they suffered, the entire group came together in prayer, and before they asked God for help, they called Him the Sovereign Lord who made everything. Now, that’s not a bad introduction. To be able to say that everything above, around, and below you was created by you is a tad more exclusive than declaring you’ve made a lot of money or won an award. But this prelude of their invocation is more than a perfunctory utterance made out of habit. This declaration of faith and dominion is intended as much more than a warm-up for the real prayer or a buttering-up of God before they ask Him for something.
No, this proclamation is an expression of their hearts’ cast that they believe and rest in the truth that God, who made everything, is certainly able to manage the threats of some officials in light of the spread of the gospel. These believers express in no uncertain terms that God is on the only throne that counts, and His power, which is limitless and made the world and each individual living in it, is able to carry them through this cloud of unrest. His might had not lessened over the hundreds of years between creation and the exodus, just as it had not from the exodus to the resurrection. And now, as your cloud of unrest or your season of uncertainty attempts to stifle you, God is still more than able. So, remember who He is and all that He’s done, and let that forge the posture of your heart.
As we seek Him today, do more than call God, God. Believe and live out all that He is and all that He has done in and through you.
Have a magnificent Thursday.
#4 Rich Holt
Dad of Ripken, Koy, TrishaJean, Samantha, Kakie Holiday and Raleigh
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
