In reading through Psalm 139:1-23 recently, I was brought to remember three realities about the God of the Bible. Great reminders for all of us!
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
God is intimate – After traveling around the world and studying world religions at a fairly high level, this is absolutely one of the defining characteristics of the God of the Bible. God knows us as individuals. He knows us intricately. He knows us intimately. God knows and cares about our thoughts. God knows us so well that He isn’t even limited by our speech. He knows what we are going to say before we say it. He knows what we mean, even when we don’t articulate it very well, when our words can’t get from our heart to our tongue.
As I have been fumbling through a language that is not my own for the past ten years (here is an unfortunate example), this particularly stands out to me as I think about God. So often, I have things I want to say to people over here, but my language fails me. Thankfully my friends know me intimately enough to translate my meanings and the heart behind what I am saying, even when my Asian vocabulary fails me. This is God to us, only infinitely more!
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
God is present – The pantheistic view of God (as exhibited in much of the East) is that he is in and inhabits everything. Yet, as far as his care and concern for individuals and peoples, he is actually nowhere. He inhabits inanimate objects (or animals, i.e. Hinduism), but does not interact with people on a personal level. In this view, God is always around, but never really present . . . except when we tick him off!
The God of the Bible, on the other hand, inhabits not things and animals, but rather His people. He is in us AND intimately around us. As we see here, there is literally no where we can go and leave His presence. He is there when we go to bed. God is there overseeing us while we sleep. He keeps breath flowing into and out of our lungs and sustains our heart and blood flow even while we are unaware He is doing so.
God is with us in the dark and in the “uttermost parts of the sea”. I know this is goofy, but one of the many things I love about scuba diving is this strange sense of God’s presence with me at all times. I will literally be at 100 feet below the ocean’s surface praying, knowing that God is present and hearing me. He is enjoying His creation along with me, even as I kick, paddle, and fight to inhale oxygen from a steel cylinder. God is present with me (and you), always, in all times and in all circumstances. This is a beautiful reality of the God of the Bible, the God I serve.
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
God made us specific to His liking – Though we are far from perfect, we are specifically and precisely made by our perfect God. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made”, as this passage beautifully spells out. There were no mistakes. We were made in God’s image, by God Himself. There is no lower cast or class. There are no spiritual peasants. There are no “have and have nots” in God’s eyes.
The world pushes us to view people this way, but the Bible speaks in a complete opposite manner. Each person, the prince or the pauper, the CEO or the street vagabond, the nun or the prostitute, is crafted in the image of God, by God, and should be afforded the respect and dignity that is due their Creator, the perfect God of the Bible, Christ Jesus.
Lord Jesus, thank you that you are intimate, present, and specific in my life. May I remember and enjoy this reality today.
Just beautiful, thank you John. I particularly like the image of you bubbling away, 100 feet below the water’s surface, surrounded not only by water, but by Him! Praise God.
I will add that for my part, I experience Him most intimately in silence and not noise. Perhaps this correlates somewhat with your scuba experience. My experience of the world is that it is noisy, and so the quiet places are where I’m best able to focus on Him. He is always present, the question is whether or not I am on his channel at any given moment.
Scott
Scott, I completely agree. Living in a mega-city in the midst of Asia, this is a struggle for me. I know you understand this with all of your time in NYC. Thanks for you thoughts! As always, great hearing from you on this!
So powerful! I read this passage earlier this week and was in need of the reminder of what God says in this passage and in return experienced His tenderness and what you have expressed in this post. It is sweet that the Lord would bring it to my eyes again today.
Thanks Ashley. . . great to hear from you on this! It really is a tremendous passage!