Week 4 Day 2 - Psalms 139 - He REALLY Knows Us!

TIES OF GRACE DAILY DEVOTIONS

Week 4 – He REALLY Knows Us!

Day 2:  Psalms 139:7-12

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

Can you imagine how behaviors would change if we constantly had our most admired role model watching our every move? And yet, how many of us live forgetting the fact that ultimately, the truest role model really is with us all the time, wherever we are? These verses in the Psalms, are speaking of the character of God that is always, always present. When I really focus in on this, many things come to my mind.  First and foremost, my sin is revealed quite easily.  Somehow, I have a deeper need to want to obey Him, when I really realize He is always there, always seeing.  But it isn’t so much because of guilt, but rather because of my love for Him for how He loves me.  How much more of a reaction do I feel inside at the reality of my sin, when I really grasp these verses and remember that my Heavenly Father, who sacrificed His one and only Son for me to pay for my sin, is watching in broken heartedness when I rebel against Him?  It changes my entire perception! But, even more than the realization that my desire to obey increases when I focus on how ever present God is, I find deep comfort in the assurance that even the darkness is not hidden from God.  Who better to trust my entire life with that the One that sees all because He is never absent… not from anything, for even a second.  Our lives are filled with scary things on this earth, as we all remembered again last Friday when a simple movie premiere turned so deadly.  All around us evil resides in one form or another: Drugs in schools, violence in men, danger in darkness.  But God is here… and there… no matter where “that” is.  He goes with us.  He goes before us. He remains behind us.  And it is in those moments of sheer terror, that I find Him to be most in the role of Daddy.  Just knowing He is around, I feel safe.  When I was little, I was so scared of the dark.  I would check my closet, under my bed, all around the room in every crack and corner, before I was willing to turn the lights out.  My parents tucked me in every night, but being the wise parents they are, they began to force me to face my fear and would send me up without them and would follow behind a few minutes later to say goodnight.  I would do my ritual check, and then I would stand at that light switch building up the strength to hit the light and leap towards the bed.  Every single night I would go through this and when I finally made it to the covers and piled under them, my heart would be beating half out of my chest!  I would lay there almost paralyzed, peeking over the covers, staring down the hall where the hall light shown in, waiting to hear their steps on the stairs.  Just hearing their steps set me at ease again.  They would tuck me in and my dad would head down the hall to the TV room or to bed and my mom would set about her nightly business (she was a night owl like I am now!).  Once I knew they were just down the hall (instead of ALL the way downstairs, Haha!), the darkness wasn’t so dark anymore and I could settle in and sleep.  That’s how it is with God.  Yes, we need to be aware of His presence so that we obey Him and show His glory, but I believe even more than that, God is ever-present because He wants us to know we are never, ever alone. No matter what is happening in our lives or the world around us, God is near.  He goes with us.  He goes before us.  And He lingers behind.  He has us.  He knows all and He never leaves.  How does that change what you will do tonight or tomorrow?  How does that comfort you in your current circumstances?