Psalm 139 part 2 – How Close is Close

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7).

Reading Psalm 139, you immediately notice the unambiguous nature of the writer’s words. Yahweh is near, He is close, so close in fact He is never distant. Nothing can come between you and Him, not even darkness. To make his point, the Psalmist lays out five what ifs to answer these questions: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (Psalm 139:7).

“If I ascend to heaven.”

“Where can I flee from Your presence?”

“If I lift up the wings of the dawn.”

“If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea.”

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will bruise me, And the light around me will be night.”

Using only three words we are given the answer: “You are there.” Yahweh is an all-knowing God, who sees and who cares. What the Psalmist describes is the nature of this relationship, a close and intimate relationship, one the Creator has with each Christian. A relationship unlike any other.

No matter how far or remote in sky or ocean, “Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

Near

The Psalmist covers every possible situation that could keep you or separate you from God. Notice how each what if, is an uttermost or extreme example - the highest heaven, the most distant sea. The writer continues: “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will bruise me.” If you were covered in darkness, even the blackest of dark and “the light around [you] will be night.” Could such darkness hide the Christian from God? No not “even the darkness is not too dark for You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.”

Yahweh is a God who sees. He is a God who is present and near in every moment of life. And, nothing can come between or hinder that relationship.