When you are on your reserve nerve with your kids this summer...read this...
Tahiti. Bora-Bora. A desert island in the middle of the Caribbean. Do you dream about getting away, at least sometimes? From time to time, most of us think about what it might be like to chuck are smart phone off a cliff and board a plane headed for a faraway places.
Even as we dream about a life-changing getaway, though, the Scriptures remind us of two things we can't escape – ourselves and our Savior.
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 139:9-10. The author of Psalm 139 celebrates the Lords constant, caring presence. At the same time, he is not naïve. He does not live in some bubble, sheltered from reality.
No, he faces very real, very powerful enemies (verses 19-22). What’s more, he lives with anxieties (verse 23), and he suspects that he commits many more sins then he even knows about – the “offensive ways” of verse 24. Can you identify?
Like this Psalm’s author, we can’t escape ourselves, not even on Bora-Bora. No matter how far or how fast we run, when we turn around, there we are!
We can’t get away from the Lord either, and that’s good news. It’s good news because he comes, not to judge, but to save and help. The cross of Christ proves it! When you lie down to sleep at night, Jesus is thinking about how much he loves you. When you wake up each morning he is still thinking about that: How precious to me are your thoughts, God. How fast is the sum of them...When I awake, I am still with you. Psalm 139:17-18.
This is yet one more way to gauge our Lord’s immeasurable love. Even when we forget or fail to trust him, he is there for us – leading us to repentance, comforting us, lifting our burdens, and bringing us hope.
Lord, you are my refuge, my ultimate getaway. Can I get an Amen!