He is the living God and steadfast for ever. … He delivers and rescues. (Daniel 6:26,27)

You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 29:14,14)

A small cardboard temple

Danielle occasionally went to see the bookseller in her road. The latter confided to her that she had at home a small cardboard temple that she had constructed, before which she would kneel down. Danielle thought this a strange practice. Did the lady need a true relationship with God, or did she prefer keeping the idol she had chosen for herself? So she asked the saleslady whether her small temple would answer her prayers. She admitted that it didn’t. Then our friend opened her Bible and read out; “God, who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is he worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath and all things” (Act 17:24-25). The bookseller was surprised by this verse which seemed to speak to her personally. So many volumes passed through her hands, but the Bible was an unknown book to her. She opened it to encounter the “Living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9), the only One who listens to our prayers (ch. Psalm 65:2),. He responds wisely to those who seek Him sincerely, but He instructs them as to who He is: “We ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising (Acts 17:29). God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, “nor is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12).

Daily Gospel Meditation – 20^th February 2012