1–7 September 2019.
It can be tempting for us to divide our lives in two, separating our faith lives from everything else and treating these as two different parts. We then tell ourselves that God cares about our faith, about our Sunday lives and worship, but that the rest of our lives don’t really have much to do with God. We assume that God cares only about our souls and not really about anything else in our lives. But that’s not true.
Psalm 139 reminds us that God truly cares about us completely; he takes an interest in our whole lives. He cares about everything we do, all the places we go, all our thoughts and experiences. God is not just our Sunday friend, he is with us every day. And there are no parts of our life that God doesn’t take an interest in. He is the friend who wants to know all of us: all of our problems, all our challenges, all our joys and celebrations.
Psalm 139 reassures us that because God loves our whole existence we can never be far away from God’s love, knowledge, and support for us. God knows our heart, he know everything about us (v. 1). In the same way that good friends can often finish our sentences for us, God also knows our thoughts and words before we even say them (vv. 2, 4). Whether we are at home or far away God is with us (vv. 2–3), he surrounds us with his care wherever we are, going before us and behind us and keeping his hand of blessing on us (v. 5).
When life is full of hurt and confusion, maybe we feel far away from God. But the good news is that God truly is never far away from us. God’s love and care are inescapable. If we go up to heaven God is there, but even in the grave God doesn’t leave us (v. 8). God joins us in our celebrations and is still with us in our worst times, in every day of joyful light and every nighttime of hopelessness and worry (vv. 9–12). No matter where we are, no matter what we are going through, no matter what corner of the world or what deep despair we are in, God is always with us.
In Romans 8:38–39 the Apostle Paul sums this up in his simple declaration that “nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.” Everything we are, all aspects of our life, our whole existence both in this world and the next, rest forever in God’s hands.
So whatever you are facing today in whatever area of your life, know that God cares for you, that God loves you, and that God is always here with you.
Pastor Stephen Lakkis
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