INESCAPABLE GOD

Psalm 139:7-10

Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I INESCAPABLE GOD

Psalm 139:7-10

Where can I go from your spirit?

    Or where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning

    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,

    and your right hand shall hold me fast.

One of my favorite movies is a classic called “O God!” Many of you might remember this movie with George Burns and John Denver. There is a great scene in the movie when John Denver’s character first encounters God and is struggling to believe that indeed that God exists and is speaking to him. In an effort to prove this, God creates a non-existent floor in a building and then makes the elevator arrive at this same floor over and over again no matter what button the character hits. The elevator doors open again and again to the same floor and eventually John’s character emerges from in defeat that he cannot escape God’s call.

This Psalm is often titled the Inescapable God. The Psalmist is asking the question about where we can go where God is not and the answer is simple: nowhere. There is no place in existence that is outside the bounds of the Holy Spirit. This helps us understand the role of the Holy Spirit even more as we know that the Spirit is everywhere and for each of us.

Not only is God ever present in the world and our lives, but the final line of this passage speaks to the beauty of God’s relationship to us. Even at the furthest place we can imagine, not only is God there but is holding us close. Though we might feel alone in this world, let us remember the imagery from this Psalm and take comfort that God is always with us caring and loving us.

Prayer

Dear God, we thank you for your constant presence in the world and our lives. Your love is boundless and inescapable. We are comforted that you always seek us out and hold us close. Thank you for your constant and abiding love. In gratitude, Amen.