Where Can I Flee?

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7-10.

The writings of David always make my heart soar as he echoes in beauty the feelings in my heart. His writings were always drenched with adoration and praise to God with an awareness of human frailties. Our emotions have us bouncing all over the place in the flesh but David knows the importance of anchoring the one constant truth – God’s presence- within the unstable emotions of mankind. I feel that he may be assigning places demonstrating our extreme emotional movement as we have mountaintop experiences with God (the heavens) and valley dwellings (the depths). He speaks of rising with the dawn (feeling God’s presence) and settling on the far side (realizing God’s silence). I cannot help but to notice these extreme visualizations form the cross – to the north, the south, the east and the west. It seems more than ironic that his beautiful poetry could be foreshadowing the work at Calvary with Jesus.

‘He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.’ Apostle’s Creed. Christ now sits to the right of His Father by God’s grace and His assignment. Christ is the right hand of God and acts as the bridge between God and man. It doesn’t matter where we go with our human emotions, the Holy Spirit goes with us to guide and hold us. Once a child of God we cannot go places where God is absent for His spirit is in us and moves through us. Like David, we too can travel emotionally in all directions - '...I go...I flee...I make...I rise...I settle...'

The entire chapter is filled with an outpouring of David’s heart but words we can echo in our prayers. There is something very powerful in reading this chapter aloud in the presence of God. You will be blessed to repeat the passions of an ordinary man who did extraordinary things by placing God at the center of every aspect of his life, no matter what his emotions were saying.