Did You Miss God?

"What right do you have to do these things?" the Jewish leaders demanded. "If you have this authority from God, show us a miraculous sign to prove it."
"All right," Jesus replied. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
"What!" they exclaimed. "It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can do it in three days?"
But by "this temple," Jesus meant his body. (John 2:18-21, NLT)

I watched a deer come out of the wetlands behind our home. It did not appear to have any agenda but to sample a few leaves from various trees. Deer must keep aware of their surroundings to stay alive; however, this particular deer seemed to be unaware and unconcerned of anything but the leaves. I am not sure what that means for the longevity of the deer.

Awareness of ourselves, our surroundings, others, and the presence of God is a vital component of healthy living. The passage from John revolves around the lack of awareness of important-big deal-Jewish leaders. They simply did not get the fact that they were in the presence of God. Scholars have been trying to grasp the full meaning of the passage from John 2 for centuries. One thing is for sure, it was difficult, if not down right impossible, for the leaders to comprehend God being in the flesh. In their experience, God was separate and could not possibly be in human form. They were unaware of what they were missing.

Before we become judgmental of those that missed the presence of God . . . how many times have we been unaware of the presence of God? Listen, I do know that we can be so consumed with the stuff of every day living that we are unaware of what God is doing.

Plain and simple . . . God gets missed because we are consumed with schedules, agendas, and well . . . stuff.

STOP!
Be aware of yourself, of your surroundings, of others, and God.
Seek Him first.
Be aware.
Be still . . . and know God.

Learning with you to be aware,
Shalom,
Kerrie
(All devotions written by Kerrie Palmer ©2008 All Rights Reserved)