Day 440: Is God far away? - Psalm 139 vs 1-12
1 Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know all about it, Lord. You have encircled me; you have placed your hand on me.
6-10 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it. Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I fly on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the western horizon (the end of the sea) even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me.
11-12 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”- even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you. Psalm 139 vs 1-11 Christian Standard Bible
For many people, God is someone who is 'far away'. Some would even say “if he exists at all, he is distant and unknowable.” And then there are Christians who sometimes say: “I feel so far from God”, and “my prayers just seem to bounce off the ceiling.” The problem here, I suggest, is that if we end up in either of the above situations it's because we are letting our feelings control us instead of listening to what God Himself says through His word. What would you say the first 11 verses of this Psalm tell us about God?
They tell us that God is not far at all, but is very intimately acquainted with who we are and all we do. His knowledge of us is so intimate He knows what's in our heart before we even express it. Verses 6-10 don't mean the writer wanted to escape from God (as the prophet Jonah tried to do), he is just making the point that there is no where in all of creation where God is not present. That should be a tremendously comforting thought for us. In vs 11-12 he says that even the night is like daylight to God. There's nothing and no-one who is hidden from His sight. God is not far away.
This truth of God's presence and nearness in the world He created, and amongst all the people He gave existence to, is well expressed by the apostle Paul when he said: “From one man God created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after Him and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him - though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist.” Acts 17:26-28
That's good news for any person who is seriously looking for God. The Bible says there is a righteousness that comes by faith. It says we mustn't say in our heart, “who will go up to heaven - or who will go down into the abyss?” to find this righteousness; but it says: “God's message of salvation is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:6-13) God's nearness means that salvation from sin is within reach of all.
But the Psalm writer’s conviction that God is present everywhere, and at all times, in the world He made, is also a source for confidence to believers. Psalm 46 says: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; God lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
It's worth reading the 11 verses of today’s Psalm again and to think of what the writer has said. Ask God that you may have the same sense of wonder that the writer felt, and the same assurance that wherever life's journey might take you “God's right hand will hold on to you.”