“In Him we live and move and have our being.” — Acts 17:28a (ESV)

I live close to the ocean. I can dip my toes into salt water after a 6-minute walk. Waves and mountain tops fill my daily view. My dog splashes to retrieve sticks. Eagles swoop for fish, sea lions provide night music, and whales make the occasional appearance. The joys of the sea are within reach whenever I want a break from my landlubber life.

All of this is a grace I do not take for granted. I recognize that for most people, the ocean is a destination. It’s a place to visit, enjoy, and then head home. In that way, it is similar to the way we often think about the nearness of God.

We tend to treat God’s presence as something that we approach. We “go to” Him daily in prayer. We enter His house on Sunday anticipating His nearness. His grace is palpable in moments of unusual joy or sorrow, but these are interruptions to the norm. Certainly, the worship service, private prayer, and Bible study refresh us like a breeze from the beach, but we only visit and then return to our routine. There is a better way!

My wife and I recently went on our first cruise. Sitting on my balcony in the Mediterranean, a bolt of truth flashed in front of me. Everywhere I looked, there was water. The four points of my compass were flooded with the sea. I wasn’t simply close to the ocean, I was held by it. The massive ship and everyone in it, everything we did, every meal and conversation and burst of laughter, all of it was possible because of the sea that carried us. I didn’t have to go to the water; the water took me places I had never been.

When Paul preached to the Athenians, he said that everything we are and do unfolds within God’s presence. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” God is the infinite ocean of grace, wisdom, power, and love that holds us up as the sea carries the ship. His presence is so constant beneath everything that we can mistake it for absence. Yes, He is near in our prayers and worship and fellowship, but when those end, He remains with us.

My challenge is to live in such a way that the reality of His presence is my sustaining confidence. I want to set the rhythms and discipline of my soul to the sway of His Spirit. Not all of us get to live by the beach, but we all live within the vastness of His company. We do not visit God. He holds us.