Christ with me

Psalm 139:7-12 - Terrifying delight (Part 2): Christ with us

Have you ever seen a young child play peek-a-boo? When you teach them this game, they think that when they can’t see you, that you can’t see them. This is probably why the game is so fun for them.

The irony is that fully-grown people have the same spatial awareness problem, except that theirs is with the spiritual world. They think that if they can’t see God, God can’t see them. But this is just not true.

Today we will see that God's presence is everywhere, and because we are united to him through Christ, we should live in awareness and confidence.

Background

As I mentioned last week, this Psalm was written by David. It may have been written during a time in his life when he was accused of idolatry or worshipping a false god, and this was a prayer to God to search him in the depths of his being and determine that this just wasn’t true.

This psalm speaks of God’s intimate omniscient knowledge of his people (1-6), his omnipresent presence with his people (7-12), the reality that he is our Creator and our companion (13-18), and our need to align ourselves with God’s heart (19-24).

Today we are going to look at verses 7-12. In these verses we will see three things. That 1) there is no hiding from God’s presence, 2) God leads us and holds onto us, and 3) God brings light to our darkness. Let me read verses 7-12 as we give careful attention to God’s word.

You can run but you can’t hide

The first thing we see in verses 7-8 is that there is no hiding from God’s presence. We read, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!” David asks the question, “Is there any place I can go that you aren’t there?” The answer is a resounding no. The psalmist isn’t saying that he wants to escape Yahweh’s presence, rather that if he did try, or wanted to it, it would be impossible. Jonah tried to flee to Tarshish, but it did no good. God pursued him there.

The phrase, “You can run but you can’t hide” gets to the heart of these verses. As a human race we began hiding in the Garden of Eden shortly after we rebelled against God. Genesis 3:7–8 says, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

The problem with their strategy was that God is omnipresent, everywhere at once. And so, Genesis 3:9 continues, “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” God did not call out because he didn’t know where he was, but rather because he was treating them with respect and dignity. He was giving Adam and Eve a chance to come back to him. Instead of coming down hard with justice at that moment, he first wanted to show them that he loved them and valued them, so he began a dialogue to give them a chance to repent.

Adam and Eve’s problem is still our problem. We try to run and escape from God. But, we can’t. God is a spirit and he is the creator of all, so there isn’t a place where he is not. Jonah tried this and it didn’t work.

It doesn’t matter where you go. You could fly in an airplane in the sky or go into outer space (heavens), literally in the Hebrew, “there you (are)!” or go to the bottom of the sea or die and be buried (Sheol) and literally, “Behold! You!” You see, everywhere we go, God will be there. “We can run, but we can’t hide.” Ironically, in the running there he is.

Terrifying

Isn’t this somewhat terrifying. He has been there when we committed our most secret, darkest sin, and has heard and seen our deepest, darkest, most evil thought. He not only sees our actions themselves, but he hears our very thoughts. And as we see elsewhere in Scripture, all these thoughts and actions are recorded.

This is another thing that is terrifying...God can’t forget. He is eternal. This means that time doesn’t apply to him. The past, present and future to him are all seamless. What you did a day ago or 30 years ago is still active in his mind.

Doesn’t this feel like something out of a horror movie? All that you have ever done, or thought is readily available to God. What makes it even scarier is that God won’t allow any evil, whether in thought or deed to go unpunished. 

God is just and evil is evil. But God is also holy and perfect and can’t allow evil in his loving presence. And so, he must punish it. But it gets worse. Humans are everlasting beings that live forever. So, the justice for all the evil that we have done or thought requires an everlasting punishment, forever separated from the loving presence of God, experiencing only his wrath and displeasure forever. This is terrifying. If this doesn’t terrify you, you might be believing in a made up god.

If this were the end of the story, life would be miserable and not worth living. But it’s not. It doesn’t end there.

Delight

In verses 9-10 we see that God leads us and holds onto us. Here we read, “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.” The psalmist looks up to the sky and essentially in our modern mind is saying, “If I got on a flight that took me from east to west, or took a submarine to the very bottom of the sea, you God, would guide me on my journey. You would strengthen me to make it.”

Why? Because God isn’t some abstract concept, but a personal God Who is with us and loves us. God is Yahweh, the eternally present and ever-faithful God. His hand guides and holds us. His hand guiding us carries with it the idea of God’s personal attention being set upon us to make sure we get to where he wants us to go. His right hand, or his strength, will seize or grasp us, carrying the idea of his strength supporting us. There is no place that is beyond God’s care for us. Do you know this? Do you feel this?

Finally, in verses 11-12 we see that God brings light to our darkness. It reads, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

David never had to fear that God would leave or abandon him. Why? Because even if he could make his way to the deepest cave where it is pitch black, where he could feel the darkness, God would still be there. There is no possible way to hide from God. For God is light and in him is no darkness. Darkness to God is the same as light, he sees all.

But this doesn’t bother David, rather it brings him peace and assurance, because there is nowhere that David can go where his loving Father isn’t there already. And since he is loved and known by God, he has nothing to fear. Not from his enemies, not from animals, and not from the weather. Nothing at all can be against him since God is for him.

Applying Christ

In Revelation 20:11–15 we see God’s omnipresence, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

At the end of time, a great day of judgment will happen, and this God who has seen everything we have done and knows every thought will pull out books, whether figurative or literal, we don’t know. And in these books will be everything we have ever done.

And then there will be another book, a book called the Book of Life, and that book simply seems to have names in it. And whoever’s name is not in it is eternally judged in the lake of fire, hell.

But Revelation continues in 21:27, in speaking about the new heavens and earth, “Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” This book of names is the Lamb’s Book of Life. It contains the names of those who are united with Christ. Those who have been washed by his blood, buried with him in his death and raised with him in his resurrection. All who are known by him will live forever with him in the new heavens and earth.

Though all our evil deeds are recorded in a book, Christ took all those deeds and had them written to his book. Then, he went to the cross and had all our charges put upon him. And then he bore the eternal wrath of God for them so that the only book our name shows up in is Christ’s book of life. We are pardoned because of Christ’s death and the judgment that was put upon him by God for our sake. And this is all because of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.

You see, we have nothing to fear from the fact that we can’t escape the presence of God. In fact, since we are united to Christ by the Spirit, he lives in us. It doesn’t matter where we go, he is there. We don’t have to go hunting for him, we simply must trust him that he is with us and daily practice his presence by abiding in him.

This is why Jesus said in John 15:4–5, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

How then do we abide in Christ? We must feed on him every day. We must look for him as we read the word. We must pray to know and apprehend his presence. We must be diligent to not only remember that he is with us, that he will never leave or forsake us, but we must live as if it is true. We must actually his words right before he ascended to heaven, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We must pray for faith to know the reality of Jesus’ presence. We must ask God to give us the faith to live the reality that he is always with us.

Application

The one united to Christ should be possessed by an intense consciousness of the constant presence of God, and because of this we should be reminded of the reality that Jesus tells us in John 10 that he is our Good Shepherd who is with us. This should remind us of his words in John 15 that we must abide in him to do anything at all. This should draw us into seeking to abide in him all the more.

Let’s pray through Psalm 23,

Lord Jesus, you are our shepherd; we shall not want. - You are our true shepherd, you watch over us, you keep us safe, you come after us when we wander, you provide for us everything that we need. You will never keep from us what we really need. Would you give us eyes to see this, ears to hear you telling us this?

Lord Jesus, you make us lie down in green pastures, you lead us beside still waters. – As your sheep, we don’t lie and rest easily unless we have the right conditions. Unless we are free from fear, trouble with other sheep, flies, and hunger. As the good shepherd, provide us with trust, peace, deliverance, and pasture to make this rest happen.

Lord Jesus, you restore our soul. – Like sheep that can roll over on our back, begin to panic and struggle, and not be able get back over, you are the good shepherd that sees us in our rut and helps us out, getting us back on their feet again.

Lord Jesus, you lead us in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. -  You are the good shepherd who will lead us on paths of righteousness, or to the right way, the way that leads to everything we need.

Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for you are with us; your rod and your staff, they comfort us. – You are the Good Shepherd who provides your presence, protection, and peace to us your sheep as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death. We do not have to fear evil because you are with us, and provide us comfort with your rod and staff. You will use these at the right time and in the right way. You use your rod to protect us from predators who would try to destroy us. You use your staff to pull us to yourself when we are wandering, to rescue us from danger when we put ourself in harm’s way, and even to rescue us from ourselves when we get out of line. You comfort us by your ever-watchful care.

Lord Jesus, you prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies; you anoint our heads with oil; our cup overflows. – You are our Good shepherd, and also the Lord of armies. You prepare a table right in the middle of a battle, you anoint our head with oil and keep on filling our cup to overflowing. When the world is raging madly around us in war, and everyone else is fighting for their own survival, and our enemies are trying to destroy us, you fight for us while we sit down at a wonderful meal that you have prepared for us. We sit and eat at a delightful feast. You are making sure that we are refreshed and renewed by pouring your blessings upon us. You are also making sure that we are being refreshed with a continual supply of drink. Just as soon as we take a drink, you fill our cup again. You have provided, are providing and will continue to provide for us better than anyone ever has or ever will.

Lord Jesus, surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in your house forever. – Your goodness and mercy are chasing us down every day of our life, and we will live in your presence forever. Every day, in every way you are chasing us with a divine love that is unmatched by anyone. Your love satisfies us. We never have to doubt your love will chase after us. And not only this, but we have confidence that because of your faithful, unending, and constant love for us that we will always live with you, the forever existing, faithful, and completely trustworthy God who is our Shepherd. You will allow us, and make sure that we spend all of eternity living where you live…being with you.