He Surrounds Me

There's a scripture that was on my mind all last week. It's Psalm 139: 5. It came up at the Jubilee Courage Conference 2019 and it stuck with me. In the moment I understood what it meant, but I also knew there was more I needed to know. I needed the few words in this verse to truly settle in my heart. As I went through the week I tried to sit with it, but the more I sat with it, the more I needed to let it spread it's roots and entwine itself in and around me.

Psalm 139: 5 talks about how God encloses us from behind and ahead of us and He also places His hand on us. Take a moment to pause and think about what that means. Sit with it, roll it around in your mind, in your heart, in your very core. Turn it from side to side, examining it from every angle and hear what He's saying. Now I'm going to ask you a question...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you if you walk around in fear of danger for your life or some sort of crime. When I say safe, I mean when was the last time you felt completely protected, covered, cherished, loved, free? I'm sitting here thinking about it and I think for most people we rarely feel true safety. We go through life and we worry, we plan, and we hustle. For some of us, we even develop habits and superstitions to try and make ourselves feel safe. Or maybe I should say "me" because I only know my experiences.

I'll be honest, I started writing this post with tears in my eyes. In a moment where I imagined safety, it saddened me that as a generation and as a church we are so unfamiliar with this feeling of complete security or in christianese we might call it "blessed assurance". Then as I wrote out the paragraph above, I realised why I love prayer, worship and bible study so much. It dawned on me that in those moments of fellowship with God, I'm so aware of His presence in my life that I feel safe. I feel free from danger and risk. I know that I will not be harmed in any way or in any area of my life because He watches over me.

The joyful truth in Psalm 139: 5 is that the same thing is true all the time. In every moment, as we go through life, as we laugh, or cry, or complain, or dance, or worry, or sleep. Literally, in every moment, whether we feel it or not. He is before us, behind us and His hand is upon us. I find myself close to tears again, but not because I'm saddened, but because I am loved.

The Almighty, Omnipotent, Omniscient God (aka my Father) is always watching over me. I feel safe.