Psalm 139:7 NIV Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
Little children think that if they can’t see mommy, then mommy must not be able to see them. All of us who have children have played the cute hiding game little ones like to play. They hide behind the living room drapes and then call out for us to find them. The bulge in the drape and the toes of their red tennis shoes sticking out give them away. But we pretend we can’t find them anyway. It is great fun for all. We enjoy playing these childish little games with our beloved little ones (assuming they don’t pull the drapes off the wall). And we forgive them even if the drapes come cascading down. Our only real concern is that they don’t get hurt by the falling drapery rod.
Psalm 139:7 is two hypothetical questions that both have the intended answer – “nowhere”.
Mankind has been trying to hide from God since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Guilt drives us to hide from each other and hide from God. We all know that is true. But it is not guilty hiding from God that is what the Psalmist has in mind in this verse.
This entire psalm is rejoicing in the confidence we have in God’s unfailing love and care for us. This section of the psalm takes delight in the fact that God is omnipresent. I can never go anywhere that God is not there before me. Our God is not a local god, He is God-Of-The-Universe. That is a huge comfort to me.
Verses 8 through 12 expand on that idea. Heaven, hell, the morning light, the farthest sea, darkness, and light are all the same to God. He inhabits them all. He is right there with me:
When I am speeding down the freeway; When I am in my bed at night; When I am in the market in Islamabad; When I am in a submarine in the deepest sea; When I am in a rocket flying above the clouds; When I am at my child’s bed in the hospital; When I am cooking dinner; When I am shopping for new socks; Anyplace my imagination can take me.
Most of my dreams have something to do with being lost. It is a terrifying situation when you don’t know where you are and you can’t remember where you are trying to go. That’s a kind of metaphor for the dreadful state of mankind, I suppose.
God’s universal presence is a magnificent blessing and source of soul-peace for those who know Him. And, surely, one of the best parts of His universal presence is that nothing ever surprises Him. He always knows what to do, even when I am completely lost. I am a child of Most-High God. He loves me unfailingly. I can count on Him to take care of me - everywhere.
Rejoice in that with me.