I like that the apostle Paul was not afraid to quote contemporary poets in his sermons. God’s wisdom is to be found everywhere, and speaking to the philosophers on Athens he draws their attention to some words of the Greek writer Epimenides which reveal not only the existence of God but also our dependence upon him: “For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).”

The truth is that our lives are lived within the presence of God, and if we are alert to it, his presence is everywhere around us. We swim in the presence of God as much as fish swim in the sea! The danger is though that we remain unaware of the closeness of God. The great challenge of the spiritual life is to wake up to the ever-present presence of God, to recognise and rejoice in his nearness in every moment of everyday, in every place and in every circumstance.

CS Lewis recognised this all-encompassing presence of God when he wrote, “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labour is to remember to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more to remain awake.”

Building on this insight from Lewis, theologian Kevin Vanhoozer says, “If conversion is the moment of awakening to the reality of God, discipleship is the effort we make to stay awake.”

This is another reason why I think my latest book, ‘Attentive to God’, is both timely and relevant. If we want to know God more deeply it will be because we know how to be alert to God’s presence in everything we do, attending to his voice, and recognising his movements. God will then not be a stranger. He will be our closest Friend.

Author

Tony Horsfall is a freelance trainer and associate trainer with EQUIP, a missions programme based at Bawtry Hall near Doncaster, England. He is an elder of his local church in West Yorkshire, and , regularly travels abroad leading retreats and Quiet Days. He has written a number of other books for BRF, including Servant Ministry (2013), Rhythms of Grace (2012), Working from a Place of Rest (2010) and Mentoring for Spiritual Growth (2008). He also contributes to New Daylight Bible reading notes.

Get your copy of Attentive to God here.