One of the things I enjoy most about God is his willingness to engage me where I am and to lead me to where I was made to be. From my perspective, he is always pulling me out of places where I get stuck and even places where I try to hide from life or his dealings with me. It seems I am never really lost from his sight, nor am I able to crawl in a hole deep enough to drop off his radar.
He is the unescapable God both in this life and the next.
A poet once used his pen to describe the beauty of being fully seen by God, even when we don’t want to be seen. These words comfort and challenge my soul. They help me know that I am seen, even when I can’t clearly see myself. They remind me to reject trying to hide who I really am from the God who sees all. They challenge me to embrace the one who embraces me.
See what they do for you.
O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
Get out of my life, you murderers!
They blaspheme you;
your enemies misuse your name.
O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
for your enemies are my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
~Psalm 139
May we pursue and get to know the God who sees us, knows us, protects us, searches for our true selves, and even hears our frustrated prayers regarding our enemies, until his blessing or correction comes our way to take us deeper into everlasting life!
—George Davis
