God Is Where We Are
Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:1-6
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
—Psalm 139:5
No matter where we find ourselves, God is there. From the moment we get up until the time we go to bed, he is there. God knows our thoughts, and he even knows our words before we speak them. In the words of the psalmist, God is familiar with all our ways because he is where we are.
Some 3,000 years after David wrote this psalm, another Jewish author, Elie Wiesel, said just the opposite in his book, Night. While he suffered in a German concentration camp, he watched his mother and little sister led away to a gas chamber. Some time later he found himself in the same barracks where his father was beaten to death. Years later, when he wrote about what he saw, he said, “I was alone in a world without God.”
But David insists that God is where we are. He says, “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” That’s the reality of life: God is where we are. No matter how much evil we may face or how dark things may be, God has promised never to leave us or forsake us.
When it seems to you that this world is void of God, turn to God’s Word, which tells us: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). His coming is the living proof that God is where we are. Accept God’s invitation, and come to him (see Matthew 11:28-29).
Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into our world. Help us to find you. We pray in your name. Amen.
About the author — Arthur J. Schoonveld
Rev. Art Schoonveld is a retired minister in the Christian Reformed Church. Before retiring in 2001, he served churches in California, Illinois, and Michigan. Since his retirement he has worked part-time for the denomination and has served as an interim pastor. Art and his wife, Anita, have four children and nine grandchildren.
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