Psalm 139:7-12

Psalm 139:7-12.  
Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.  
If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall fall on me, Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.  

Huge questions with even bigger answers!  Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?  Heaven?  No.  Hell?  No.  Fly into the morning?  No.  Lost at sea?  No.  In the dark of night?  No.  Do we grasp this?

I mean maybe our questions are a little different.  LORD, can I hide from You in food?  Can I flee from Your presence in the busyness of life?  Can I hide in my emotions/health/pain?  What about in social media, shopping, work or just hanging out?  What about in church, LORD, can I hide there?  Oh, I know I can hide behind a smile and a willingness to serve, right, LORD?  Maybe I can even hide in my home or in my car?  I mean, surely Lord, there is some place for me to hide, right?

Absolutely and unequivocally we receive a resounding, "NO!"  There is no place so bad, so busy, so righteous, so anything that can remove us from God's very Presence!  Romans 8:35; 38-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?;  For I am persuaded that neither death no life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  

I skipped it but did you know what verse 37 of Romans 8 says?  "YET IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US!"  The 'yet in all these things' refers to verse 36 which actually is saying even if we are killed for our faith in Jesus - we are more than conquerors and there is nothing that can cause us to be separated from our LORD!

For me I need to think on these things.  I mean more often than not I am living my life as if it is my own and not even paying attention to the fact that God's very presence is with me and how blessed I am that He promises that nothing can separate us...not even my apathy, anger or anxiety, etc.... I mean consciously I know that I never want to be separated from God again and I take it for granted that I cannot be when I could be living in a much more abundant place in life, with more joy, peace and gratefulness; however I live a good portion of my day just busy or distracted by things that are not what He has for me.  

Another side of this is that He loves me, period.  I cannot add to or subtract from that love, I simply cannot - His very Person makes it impossible!  I am so grateful!  Back to Psalm 139:7-12, where can I go to flee from my LORD's presence?  Absolutely no where and if I am wanting to flee then perhaps I had better chose to stop and allow Him to deal with me rather than foolishly trying to fill my days or ignore His presence.  To be dealt with by my Heavenly Father is a hard but at the same time a wonderful place.  No one loves me more.  No one wants more good for me and no one else can understand me completely and meet me right where I am!

I guess all this is to say, what are we using to try to hide from God - 'good things' or 'bad things'?  Why would we want to hide?  If we are not deliberately choosing to seek God and recognize His presence in our lives then we are hiding/disobeying Him.  It is one or the other.  We must continually choose!  The coolest part is that He draws us and He even gives us the strength and desire to want to be with Him.  This desire grows as we seek Him in His Word, as we pray and as we serve others because of Him.

LORD, please give me a hunger to want to recognize Your presence in my life and obey.  May You have Your way in me and may I truly be grateful that I cannot find myself anywhere in this life or beyond without Your very Presence!  God, You are so good to me!  I have certainly tested You on this and You have proven Yourself faithful over and over and over again.  I thank You for Your character, that You are trustworthy, sovereign, strong yet gentle and that You are full of grace, mercy and forgiveness.  May I listen and obey...reveal to me when I am trying to hide or feel the need to and bring me back to where You want me to be.