Psalm 139:7–12 (ESV)
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.
In the first section of this Psalm, David meditated on God's comprehensive knowledge of his movements, his thoughts, and his motivations. He did not just say "God knows me, isn't that wonderful." Rather, he thickened up his thinking about that truth through his pen. He increased his appreciation of God's knowledge through his extended meditation. Sometimes less is more, but not when it comes to contemplating the wonder of God. In this case, more is 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.
In the first section of this Psalm, David meditated on God's comprehensive knowledge of his movements, his thoughts, and his motivations. He did not just say "God knows me, isn't that wonderful." Rather, he thickened up his thinking about that truth through his pen. He increased his appreciation of God's knowledge through his extended meditation. Sometimes less is more, but not when it comes to contemplating the wonder of God. In this case, more is more.
For instance, there is value in me summarizing this Psalm in an outline. If I wanted to outline Psalm 139, I might write it like this:
Wondering at God's knowledge of me v. 1-6
Rejoicing in God's presence with me v. 7-12
Amazed at God's creation of me v. 13-16
And so, Delighting in the mind of God v. 17-18
A plea for righteousness without and within v. 19-24
Outlining and summarizing can help grasp the big picture. But when it comes to delighting in and savoring God, netting it out quickly is not the goal, savoring it slowly is.
David had delighted in the reality that God's knowledge of him was comprehensive, now in these verses, he beautifully explores the reality of God's presence with him. What he says is glorious, but how he says it is also beautiful. From our vantage, we are meant to delight in both. The artistry with which he writes can also stir our delight. We have choices, we have agency, and we are not robots. These lines await our delight in him. But though this banquet awaited me this morning, I got distracted by a far lesser attraction this morning. I almost always do my Bible reading and praying from my computer and have done this for years. I don't recommend the practice to others. There are so many distractions, but I love being able to pray by writing. But the distractions are ever-present.
Last night when I got in from church, I decided to check Facebook. That almost always discourages me in one way or another. But last night was not too bad. But I forgot to close it out and so it was still open on my computer when I got to my study this morning. So, though a feast for my soul awaited me here in Psalm 139, I got distracted by Facebook and spent probably 10 minutes or so, maybe 15 mindlessly scrolling. Understand, I'm not beating myself up for that. I don't think God is angry with me. Rather, it's that those 10 or 15 minutes I could have been resting in and delighting in the presence of God. But it's worse than that, those 10 or 15 minutes were, true to form, discouraging to me. It was a terrible trade-off. It has taken me the rest of the morning to recover to this point, where my heart and my mind are trained on the Lord and delighting in him rather than starving on the innocuous. I didn't somehow leave God's presence when I went onto Facebook, per these very lines in the Psalm. But my attention was terribly distracted onto far lesser allurements.
"Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?"
"Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?"
David is not trying to get away. He's not languishing under the gaze of God. He's delighting in the reality that he can't outrun God's presence. No matter where he goes, no matter where I go . . .
"Even there your hand shall lead me,
And your right hand shall hold me."
"Even there your hand shall lead me,
And your right hand shall hold me."
I'm so grateful for the peace that God is providing through this truth this morning. But then I remember that David had so much less encouragement than we do. He never had the privilege to think about, let alone experience the glory that God himself dwells within the heart of every believer. He never had the chance to thrill along with the Apostle Paul as he says in Colossians 1:27 "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
In the case of social media and a thousand other distractions, less is more. I can't fully exit those spaces. God has called us to go where people are. But "more is more" when it comes to delighting in the glory of God's presence within me. I can never ponder too much; I can never remember too much the glory of God's presence.
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