Acts 17:24-37 says, “God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he worshiped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath and all things, and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined at pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.“
So what are “the boundaries of our dwelling” place? There are four. They are not geographical. They are time, space, matter and intellect. There are four things you cannot surpass. You cannot surpassed time. You can’t go back to yesterday. We can’t escape space. You can’t be here and there at the same time. Space is a boundary that we cannot break. Matter. Try walking through a wall. You can’t violate the boundary that God has put around us that we call matter. How about intellect? There are various boundaries for different people in the realm of intellect. But none of us can surpass the limit that God has put on us. There are things that we will not figure out because God has determined we will not figure it out. We continue to learn new things. Different people working in different fields continue to explore and continue to expand. But there’s a limit.
In Psalm 55:4-8, David longed to be able to be set free from his human limitations. He wanted to have the wings of a dove that he might “fly away and be at rest.” He couldn’t do it because of his limitations. I don’t know if it’s a comfort to you, but you can’t flee from God.
He’s always right there, and there’s no place that we can escape.
So of these four areas, time is one of our greatest limitations. Time is also one of our greatest opportunities. “And He has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of [their habitation or] their dwelling” place. Why? “So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though he is not far from each one of us. He is always near. He is near every single member of the human race. One of the amazing things about the spiritual life is how far someone can be from God when He is so near.
You know what? One of the horrible realizations is? One split second after an unbeliever dies for the first time in their existence they’re without God, and that is the hell of hell. No more chances, no more possibilities. Everything sealed for all eternity. It’s one of the things that drives me to pray for them by name that somehow God will allow the glorious light of the gospel of Christ to shine into their soul, because they are a soul for whom Christ died. Part of the penalty He paid was the penalty He paid for them. And so I pray for them, and I hope that you will as well.
Learn about “The Simplicity of Salvation” here:
https://basictraining.org/simplicity-of-salvation/