When your world begins to shake, you can go in one of two directions. You can turn to God and trust him to steady you. Or you can turn away from God and conclude he doesn’t care…maybe, he doesn’t even know what to do, so you’re better off on your own. At the end of the day, here’s the question: Which way will you turn?
In Psalm 139, David, the writer of this psalm, helps us turn in the right direction.
Psalm 139:1-4
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
David was no stranger to circumstances that cause the ground to shake around us. An old prophet named Samuel anointed David to be king, but the reigning King Saul, the jealous King Saul, tried to kill David. He ran for his life over the next decade. Many times, in those years as a fugitive, David cried out to God. In direct questioning, David asked, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” (Psalm 13:1).
Maybe you feel the same way. Your situation has you wondering if God cares or if he even knows what he’s doing. Where is God when your world is falling apart? Today’s passage reminds us that God is right there with us.
David says that God knows us. He sees our outward actions and he is the One who sees the innermost parts of our being—our fears, hurts, dreams, joys, all our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. And before our thoughts are translated into words, and our mouths utter a sound, God already knows what we are going to say. Wherever we go, God is there. Whether we are lying down, sitting down, or on our journey, God is “acquainted with all [our] ways.”
So here’s my point. God is always with you. Whether you feel it or not. Whether you want him to be or not. God will always be present with you. And when your world is shaking, he will steady you.
When Tim and Jolene learned that Tim had cancer, their world was shaken. But God was with them. His presence steadied them. They wrote this in an email, “God has adequately supplied our needs up to this point, and we are confident he will continue to give us mercy and grace . . . God is definitely close by.” He always is.
Father, thank you for your certain presence in all life’s circumstances. Thank you for always being close by. Thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thank you for this much needed message today at the start of a new year.