He Left Not Himself Without Witness

"And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." (Acts 14:15-17). Sometimes, acting against our best interests, we turn away from God. We mistrust and disobey Him. We despise His counsel and deny His existence and actively work to diminish His influence in our lives specifically and the world around us generally. And God, who honors and cherishes our agency, suffers us to walk in our own ways. But as much as He loves our agency, He loves us as His children just a little bit more. Even if we are determined to walk our own way, God will not leave Himself without witnesses of His goodness and His tender mercies. Regardless of how much we pretend to hate our Heavenly Father, He will love us all the same. Whether we are wicked or just, He will cause the rains to pour down upon us all the same. If we are convinced in our hearts that all God ever gives us are stones and serpents, He will nevertheless continue to give us bread and fish, filling our hearts with food and gladness whether we like it or not. The heart of the matter is that God is in and through and a part of all things. There is no path that we could possibly take that does not ultimately lead to Him because He is at the end and the beginning and the middle of all roads. There is a scene at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince when Dumbledore magically conjures up drinks for Harry's aunt and uncle as they discuss Harry's future. The Dursleys refuse to acknowledge the glasses floating in midair, even as they start to knock gently against the side of their heads. Eventually Mr. Dursley gets fed up and demands that Dumbledore gets rid of the glasses, which Dumbledore promptly does, only commenting that it would have been politer to drink them. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the tragedy of our lives that we ignore all of the witnesses of God's goodness and love and mercy in our lives. We are like the Dursleys pretending that the drinks bouncing off the sides of their heads don't exist. We may not like to acknowledge them but God's constant blessings are all around us and when we are brought back into His presence, we will not be able to deny the infinitude of blessings that He has rained down upon us, even if He has more often than not suffered us to go our own way.