"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 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. 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. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' Atos 17:24-28"
— Atos 17:24-28
How many times did you wake up today worried about tomorrow? Perhaps you checked your bank account, your commitments, the news of the world, seeking security in numbers and plans. But there is a truth that Paul proclaimed to the philosophers of Athens that remains intact for you at this very moment: you are not sustained by your own strength, nor by chance, nor by luck — you are alive because God sustains every breath you take.
The apostle Paul was at Mars Hill, surrounded by highly educated men who created their own gods, their own systems, their own explanations for existence. And he, without timidity, declares a demolishing truth: there is a God who made all things. He is not a distant god who created and abandoned his universe. He is a God so close that you literally live, move, and exist in him. Each beat of your heart, each thought that passes through your mind, each breath — is by the providence of this God.
The Greek word for 'providence' (pronoia) literally means 'to think beforehand,' 'to care in advance.' God does not merely sustain you now — He has already thought of you. He has already determined your days. He knows exactly where you are and why you are there. God's providence is not cosmic indifference; it is attentive love that works behind the scenes of your life, weaving each thread into the circumstances that surround you.
Think about what would change in your life if you truly believed this today. Not superficially, but deeply — if you believed that the invisible hands of a loving God are holding you right now. Your financial problems do not escape his knowledge. Your fears at night do not surprise him. Your desires for purpose and meaning were placed in your heart by him. And he is not absent while you struggle — he is here, breathing with you, moving you to places where you can find him better.