26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

                                                                             Acts 17:26-27

 

Dear Friends and Members of IBC,

On Sunday, I shared from Acts 17:27 to make the point that despite the fact that the exiled Israelites in the North Kingdom had spent 200 years worshipping idols, the one true God was not far from them. He knew that a remnant remained who had not bowed down to false gods. In this week’s Word of the Week, I would like to share an incidence from my own life that helped to reassure me, in a quite unusual way, that no matter where I go, God is always near.

A few years ago, I had to travel abroad for a week-long training course. The lectures started on Monday but because of the flight schedule, I flew in on the Saturday, stayed in a hotel and then travelled up to the college on the Sunday evening. This trip was something I had done several times before and was looking forward to it. A chance for some freedom from the daily routine of family life! Yet truthfully, I also knew how much I would miss my wife and kids.

I got off the plane on the Saturday morning and took the train straight into the city centre. Walking through the busy streets to my hotel, I began to feel a little low and downcast but couldn’t really explain why. I should have been looking forward to this time to myself but I felt the opposite. When I reached my hotel, I realised that I had accidentally booked myself the most central hotel possible, directly next to a thriving night club. There would be little chance of sleep.

After checking in, I walked out onto a crowded, pedestrianised area, throbbing with people. I just felt alone and a bit dejected. I had the sense to pray and so offered up a prayer for help. After a minute of walking, I got out my smart phone to check Google maps and instead of seeing the home screen, an internet page had popped up. I guessed that my phone must have been pressing against my pocket and had somehow gotten onto this page. But then I looked at what the page actually was.

It was an online Bible, a website called ‘Bible Gateway’. This wasn’t something I had looked at before on my phone, it wasn’t an old page that was stored away in the memory cache. And the page wasn’t just the homepage, it was one specific verse. Not even a chapter or a book, but one solitary verse that looked up at me. It read: “You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.” It was Psalm 139:3. They were King David’s words, describing how God always saw him.

I stared at it for a minute and then looked upwards. I just had to say thank you. The verse reminded me of the simple truth that God was there with me. He was near. At all times, even when I travelled, He saw me. The low, lonely feeling vanished, I started to look forward to a few things that I had planned to do.

Later, I checked out different translations of this verse and was surprised to note that the NLT version, the translation of the verse that came up on my phone, was the only version which translated the verse as ‘you see me when I travel’. It was those words in particular which had brought such comfort and were so relevant to my situation.

God bless you

James