Living in the Spirit

July 18, 2023

Scripture Reading:

Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

In my Bible, this scripture is titled, The Inescapable God. Knowing God is always with us is one of the most comforting things we have available to us. Knowing God is always with us can also be one of the most uncomfortable feelings we experience when we get caught in the world’s ways that draw us away from God. We have a part to play in our relationship with God. God is indeed always with us, do we work to always be with God?

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I turn my back on you, from the shame of something I knew I should not have said or done. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.