Carina Francke

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  Psalm 139:7

David thinks out of the box and from a different perspective when he addresses God and asks him these two questions. He is not searching for answers; he knows the answer already: hiding, running away or fleeing from the presence of God is not an option. He knows everything and He is omnipresent!

This knowledge brings security to David, because he knows: nothing that crosses his path, and nowhere he goes, will happen without the knowledge and presence of God. David is deeply impressed by God’s knowledge of the smallest detail of a person's life, even before it happens. He knows when we sit and when we rise, of our going out and lying down, our every thought and even our unspoken words. Yes, he sees right through us, he knows us through and through. Even before we were born every day of our lives was already written in his book (vv 1-4,16). He was there, is there and will always be there!

But more than that, he protects us, he surrounds us from all sides, whether east, west, heaven or hell. He takes our hand in his and leads us through his Spirit. Even darkness flees as he approaches because he is the Light (vv 8-12). Any attempt by people to hide their sins or to hide from him is pointless. He is present everywhere - on our wandering paths and in our darkness and eventually all will be exposed to the Light!

He made us and knows precisely how we think and reason and why we act in certain ways and so often do not submit to his authority.  But it makes him no less involved in our lives, because his empathy, fuelled by love, prevents him from turning his back on us. As the author of Ecclesiastes so aptly describes our performance towards the Almighty, how much more does God not know who we are: Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger." (Ecclesiastes 6:10).

He is present ... also in our perceived greatness and wants to change us!

Prayer: Father, I praise you for your presence and involvement in people's lives. It is like a fortress that offers security. I pray that you will not stop examining and testing my heart and thoughts, and if there are things that will lead me astray, I ask that your Spirit will make me aware of them. Amen.