Tuesday 30th June - The Presence of God

DAILY BYTE

The Psalms have been the prayer book of the people of God for centuries, so just like we often pray today, Psalm 139 offers us a prayer working through both the frustration that we often feel in life and the assuring and challenging guidance that we receive from God.

The very first word of this psalm is Yahweh – Lord. From the very beginning, the psalmist, and we, are calling out to God. Why do we call out to God?

When have you done that in the past few weeks? Have you received disappointing marks? Have you felt like you’re on your last thread? Has someone you love died or become ill? Has someone made you feel as though you are inadequate in the sight of God? Have you hurt someone, intentionally or unintentionally?

Some scholars have argued that the person who wrote this psalm was someone who had been accused of idolatry or some other crime offensive to God. Some argue that this person is crying out in the first verse that they are innocent, begging God somehow to corroborate that innocence. This is what we do, isn’t it? When someone speaks against us, or when we feel we’ve been wronged, we protest.

We say to the person who has wronged us or to God, YOU! GOD! You know me! You know I wouldn’t do this! You know who I really am! You have searched me – you have examined me, and you know me! Please stand up for me! Please believe me! Please don’t leave me to fend for myself in the face of accusations and a life that seems unfair!

Sometimes, we really are innocent. And sometimes, we ask God to defend us when we can’t admit that we’re truly wrong. Many reasons exist for why we cry out to God, probably very few of them pure.

But, the psalms never leave us in the same state of mind for very long, dwelling on our offenses and our impurities. Somewhere between verses 1 and 2, the psalmist begins to think of all the ways God does actually know who we are. Even though we all have shadowy sides to us and pure, loving sides, God still searches us, knows us, and miraculously, remains with us.

“You know when I sit down and when I rise up…”

These motions describe the entirety of our days and nights both physically and emotionally. Think about how many times you sit down and get up every day. We sit when we’re tired, when we’re going to share a meal, when we’re bowled over from both good and bad forms of surprise, when we’re attentive and ready to learn from a teacher. When we sink into our chairs from the shame of causing someone pain.

We stand when we’re greeting people we both love and hate, when we’re preaching the Word, recovering from an illness, or running to or from something. Even if we are physically unable to stand, there are ways that we raise ourselves to the attention of the world and ways that we allow ourselves to rest.

Through every action and every rollercoaster of emotion, God is in the midst of it all.

Do you know that God is with you – through every up and down, every coming and going today?

FOCUS READING

Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV)

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, every time I sit down and stand up, every time a word comes from my mouth, loving or hurtful, and every time a feeling is felt in my heart, help me to remember your presence with me and be thankful. Amen.