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! 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. Psalm 139:7-10
Nowhere To Hide
Does the beginning of another new year make you want to hide under the covers and not come out? Sometimes we get to the end of ourselves and the only way we can even handle the sun coming up is to run the other way. We cannot even face the thought of another day, let alone another year. Maybe you are still in the same place you were at the beginning of the last year, a place you vowed that you would not be now. But here you are. Maybe you are in a broken marriage, in a broken home, in a broken relationship with your kids, living a broken life. And you are still broken – a year later. Maybe you feel like you are too broken for God, and you just want to run away from Him in shame.
David understood this feeling when he wrote the words above. He made plenty of mistakes, had plenty of broken relationships, and yet was still an anointed king and a man after God’s own heart. David knew the truth that God is everywhere. There is no place that is hidden from Him. He is everywhere all at once!
God met David when he was hiding in the cave, and God will find us and meet us exactly where we are, not where we think we need to be for Him to meet us. He loves us and wants to meet us right where we are, at our lowest, weakest point, where we feel the most vulnerable. He never expects us to walk alone, and we are not alone, even when we think we are hiding. He longs to meet us where we are and give us exactly what we need, because He is the only place we will find it. There is nowhere we can run and nowhere we can hide that is out of the reach of God’s love for us. There is no border on His love, or expiration date, or limit. You are not too broken, and you have not used up all your chances with Him.
Are you resisting Him, pushing Him away, burying your face away from Him and avoiding His calling? Do you feel stuck, and are you ashamed that you are still stuck? He knows and He wants us to trust Him with our feelings of shame and failure. When we resist Him and push Him away, we are rejecting the one thing that can bring us the real comfort and hope we need. Hiding doesn’t keep us from Him. He longs to turn us back toward the light and His completely sufficient love and care.
His presence is not something we need to hide from but what we need to run to and hide in. He is forever with us, and He is the only thing we need to take with us into 2023, and into every place we are hiding from. Let Him dispel the darkness. Let Him usher you into every moment ahead, difficult as well as easy, and let Him be the one you trust in completely.
LC-
