David Bahn – Reflections

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Acts 14:14-28

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ¹⁶ In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸ Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

¹⁹ But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. ²⁰ But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. ²¹ When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. ²³ And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴ Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, ²⁶ and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. ²⁷ And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they remained no little time with the disciples.

Fingerprints. Tire treads. Shoe soles. DNA. You leave evidence of your presence wherever you go. It may take a forensic scientist to root out the DNA evidence. I could take a trained fingerprint analyst to determine if those are your prints on the murder weapon – or not! There may be some uncertainty about whether your car’s tire treads are an exact match or your shoe soles made that imprint. But we all leave  evidence of our presence wherever we go.

So does God.

I love to use the example of a modern wrist watch to make the point. The premise is this: If you find a watch somewhere on the ground you would draw certain conclusions about its presence. Someone must have dropped this, you surmise. A wiseacre might rejoin: How do you know that? In fact, I believe it just evolved over time. You know, the elements started vibrating at just the right frequencies, the parts came together to form the first rudimentary clock – an hour glass, or even a sun-dial. Then over the eons of time these evolved into ever-more complex and intricate timepieces, until today. Now we have this watch.

Of course no one believes such nonsense. We all know that watches come from watch factories, to watch stores or online marketplaces, are purchased or gifted, and used by their owner. We know they don’t just happen. We know that they are made in a watch factory – even though I’ve met only two people during my life to have seen a watch factory. And I’ve asked the question hundreds of times, “Have you ever actually seen a watch factory?”

There’s an even greater evidence to which we could all point. If you get up some morning and find a hot cup of coffee and delicious breakfast waiting for you, you know someone loves you and has done a good thing in your behalf. None of us believe those things just happen.

Paul makes this point. God sends “rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” It’s not just that God exists. It’s not merely that he is the Creator. There is evidence of his goodness, grace, love, provision, and protection all around us. Will we ignore it? Or will we recognize him as the giver – given the evidence he has left for us?

Martin Luther wrote in his catechism 500 years ago that God does all these things only out of fatherly divine goodness without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this, he says, it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him. 

God is not without witness and we are not without proper response. We are to thank, praise, serve, and obey God for all his good gifts.