Have you ever tried to run away from God? If you think about it, trying to escape God is pretty silly. But that doesn’t stop us from attempting it anyway. The Bible is full of examples of how people tried to get away from God because they didn’t want to do what God has asked them to do.
Jonah is probably the most popular story along those lines. And look what happened to him.
Green landscape in Guatemala
But today’s verses are Psalm 139:7-10.
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.
This is one of David’s Psalms, and when I think about trying to escape from God, this is what I always think of. God is everywhere. If we don’t want to listen, we can ignore Him. If we don’t like what He’s saying, we can shun Him. But we can’t get away from Him.
I’m getting ready to fly across the Atlantic today to visit my friend in the United Kingdom, and I’m not sure where I’ll be sitting at this point. So I may end up to a talker, which is perfect fine, but I don’t like to talk on flights. Not generally.
If I do end up sitting next to an extrovert on the flight, how rude would it be for me to shut my eyes and ignore them? Maybe you’ve done that before, and that’s fine if that works for you. I’m not going to weigh in. But I think we do that with God sometimes. We close our eyes, stick our fingers in our ears, and sing a song to ourselves, all the while knowing that He’s sitting right beside us trying to tell us something important.
The thing about actively ignoring someone is that it wears on you. You get tired of it, and there’s always this little voice at the back of your head telling you that you should just stop acting childish and listen to what the person next to you has to say.
Maybe that’s just me.
If you don’t want to listen to God, fine. But stop trying to get away from Him because that’s just silly. And know that the longer you ignore Him, the bigger fuss He’s going to have to make to get your attention.
What’s truly comforting about not being able to escape God is that no matter where you go, He’s there. I’m going to be in Scotland and England for the next week and a half, and my God is already there. And that brings me joy and comfort and certainty.
On that note, since I’m going to be traveling and the time zones are so different, I have decided to put AlwaysPeachy on hiatus for the duration of my trip. I’ll start up again when I get back on July 8. However, if you would like to keep track of me, I’ll be posting as frequently as possible on my writing blog, http://AmyCWilliams.com. If you think about it, please pray for my brother and me as we travel. We’d like to keep all of our luggage and make all of our connections. Thank you so much!
Always Peachy 