With school underway, isn’t it time for a pop quiz? I can almost hear the collective “sigh” for even entertaining such a notion.
Well, in Psalm 139:7 the author, David, presents a question to God that many of us have likely pondered when we want to escape or hide from something we have done in our life. David declares: “Where can I go from your presence?”
You would think this was a man running away from God and just did not know where to go. There are many accounts in the Bible where people tried to hide from God: Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 after they disobeyed God, or Jonah who tried to run away from God’s plan.
David comes to the conclusion that God is everywhere and there is nowhere he can go that God is not present. In verses 8-12 he describes the extent of God’s presence: “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
David explains in vivid contrast there is no height or depth where you can go that God is not already there. He then describes there are no far reaches where God is not. He shares how God holds him fast when it seems things are tearing him apart. With the vertical and horizontal dimensions covered, David says even the darkness cannot hide a person from God as the light of God overwhelms the dark.
In all of David’s troubles, he realizes that instead of running from God, he runs to God. We can see his personal and tight connection to God as David asks God to examine and search him. He expresses how God knows his every, thought, word and deed.
As David knows that nothing is hidden from God, he celebrates this dynamic and seeks God in this wonderful prayer of self-examination. Paul highlighted this principle as he wrote in Romans 8:38 “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.”
Are you feeling on the run? Run to God as He is everywhere and wants to know you personally so you can be anchored in His love.
Frank Alioto is the pastor of The River Covenant Church: “An Alaskan church for people who would rather go to The River.” We gather on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at K-Beach Elementary in Soldotna. Call 252-2828 or visit www.therivercovenantchurch.org.
