“Expectant people most often encounter the Lord.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – May 21, 2026
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” Acts 10:1-3, NKJV
While it is certainly true that the Lord can appear to anyone at any time and is not bound by our decisions or attentiveness, there is a pattern in Scripture that is worth noting and observing for our own lives: Expectant people most often encounter the Lord. Those who live in anticipation of his arrival and actively look for his work in their midst more often than not encounter his presence as he breaks into their lives and world.
Take, for example, today’s story from Acts 10. Here we have a dramatic scene in which an angel of God appears to Cornelius in the morning and speaks words of direction straight from the Lord. Yet do not brush past the verses that immediately precede this heavenly encounter. Look at how he is described: “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” You could do a lot worse than to have this be the summary of your life when you die! This is a picture of a life fully devoted to Christ, living expectantly in attentive prayer, and yet someone for whom faith was not reduced to a private set of beliefs. No, “all his household” kept the faith, and he gave generously of what he had, serving his neighbor in the name of the Lord.
We should never reduce our life of faith to some formulaic vision: if I pray X amount of times, God will do X. If I do this, he surely will do that. This is not how living relationships work. However, relationships are built upon mutual communion. We cannot live life inattentive to the Lord and then wonder why we never hear from him or lack any sense of his presence.
When we wonder where God is, the first place to look is our own absence from the relationship. Let us, instead, live like our brother Cornelius, and trust that we will encounter the guiding presence of the Lord as we live out our devotion to Christ with courage and daily faithfulness.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the witness of Cornelius. May we in our own day lead our families into lives of abiding communion and love for those in need, trusting that this is the path that leads us into an encounter of your presence, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
How can you embrace a deeper posture of reception in this season of life?
Related Reading
Psalm 105:4; Jeremiah 29:13; James 4:8
Worship Resource
Fernando Ortega: Pass Me Not
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