“God did this so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us”
Acts 17:27

Have you ever felt like God was far away?
Like maybe you might be all alone in whatever it is you are going through?
No?  I mean, me neither.  I don’t know what I’m talking about.

But seriously, we’ve all been there.
All of us.
We’ve all had moments where we didn’t just want God to be near but we needed God to be near.
We get bad news.
We let our negative thoughts and anxiety take over.
We lose sight of where we are.
And we look around and can’t find him.

“God isn’t here,” we think.

It’s a horrible feeling, the fear, the abandonment, the aloneness.
And even though all those are completely real and valid feelings – they are not true.

You are not alone.
God has not abandoned you.
No matter how isolated you are feeling – God really is with you.
No matter where you are or what you are going through – God really is with you.

Here’s the thing about this Acts verse.
Paul is talking to the people of Athens and he’s just said that famous verse 23 – “What you have called unknown I am going to make known to you” – after seeing they even worship an “unknown God.”
And then Paul talks about our God.
Our God who made the whole world and everything in it.
Our God who gives us life and breath.
And then Paul says our verse today – so that we’d look for him and grope for him and find him, even though God is never far away from us.

Here’s what I love about this verse:
Even though God is not far away, it sometimes still FEELS that way.
This verse acknowledges this reality.  
Because why would we need to “grope” for someone who is right there?
I kind of think of this passage like those times when I’m in a dark room, feeling for the light switch.
And for just a moment when I’m in the pitch black, groping around on the wall, I sometimes wonder if I’m in the right spot.
Maybe I’m turned around. Maybe I got mixed up. Is this even the right wall?
And then I find it and click – and all is well.

So even though God is always near, sometimes God feels far away,
and sometimes we get a little lost and confused and mixed up.
We start to doubt God is where God said he’d be.
But fear not, as we start to feel around for him, we’ll find him.
Right there.
With us.
Where he’s been the whole time.