Psalms of Comfort 18: A Shepherd at All Times (Psalm 139)

We wonder with so many miraculous testimonies around us, how we could escape God? When someone points something out to us that’s always around us, have you ever wondered why you haven’t seen it before? So often we don’t see because we don’t look. So it is with Gods presence in our lives.

Just listen to Psalm 139. In these days, we are getting used to some of our loved ones being with us at all times. We look up and they are there, we rise in the morning they are there and settle at night and they are there. There is more of a presence than an absence. For others on their own, they see no one from one end of the day to the next, they rise in the morning they are alone, they settle down for the night and they are alone.

The shepherd is there when the sheep look up, the shepherd is there when the sheep settle down, the shepherd is there when they feel threatened or hungry or isolated. The Lord is our shepherd at all times, for the comfortable, for the isolated, for those in want, for those in trouble, when we look up he is with us.

We only have to look around us to see his hand in the smile of a baby, in the sunrise and sunset, in the night sky, in the wind, in the food on our table, in the kindness of a neighbour, in the natural order. This psalm gives ample evidence of his presence.

It tells us that he searches us and knows us and that’s because of his presence. He knows our thoughts before we think them and that’s because of his presence, He knows our every movement, because he is present with us, He knows what we will say and can finish our sentences, because he is present, He surrounds us and can lay his hand upon us because he is with us always. There is nowhere we can go to get away from his presence, he is always there.
When we are high and when we are low he is there too.

Sometimes we take ourselves away from our household for some me time, for some space and solitude, like our shadow God accompanies us along the way, guiding us so we don’t lose our way, watching our next step before we stumble. The right hand of God is on us and that should give us great comfort.

So the next time we feel frightened or alone look up and see him, see him in the sunlight streaming through the window lighting up all that is around you. The next time you see a baby laugh or see an ocean wave, take note. Pause and listen as his majesty ever so gently whispers, “I’m here.” You may feel alone in the wilderness, but you are not; God is with you. Remember the more you look for him, the more of him you will find.

So may you be aware of Gods presence this day and see him around you when you look for him.