Monday 27th November
“Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” (Psalm 139:7-8) (NIVUK)
Where can we go?Where can we flee?God’s presence cannot be escaped. The simple fact is that there is nowhere that God is not. No place or covering can hide us across the immeasurable distance between the heavens and the depths of the earth. In fact, “nothing in all creation is hidden from his sight” (Heb 4:13 NIVUK). This is both a terrifying and a wonderous thought. The writer to the Hebrews continues “everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (NIVUK) Jonah tried to run from God and his purposes for him, and even in the belly of the great fish he was drawn into the very presence of the God he was trying to escape. Jonah was certainly ‘hemmed in’ by God!So, running is futile – but why would we want to escape the God who created us with such loving care and intimacy (Ps 139:13-16)? Why would we want to be outside of his protection and guidance? Nothing he asks of us should be too hard compared to living in a barren wasteland away from his presence.“For in him (Jesus) we live and move and have our being” Acts 17:28 (NIVUK)
Karen Barklay
