Psalm 139:7-12 – Present

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit and where can I flee from Your face?

⁸If I ascend [to the] heavens, You [are] there and [if] I spread out [in] Sheol, behold, You [are there]!

⁹[If] I lift wings of morning, [if] I settle in uttermost part of sea, ¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me. Your right hand will grasp me.

¹¹And [if] I say, “Surely darkness will cover me,” even night [will be] light around me.

¹²Even darkness does not make dark from You and night as day shines. As darkness, as light.

In verses 1-6, David pondered the omniscience of God. “You search me and You know.” In verses 7-12, he goes on to ponder the omnipresence of God. Notice in verse 8, I have to supply the [are] in “You are there.” In Hebrew it is just, “You!” “Behold, You!” No matter where I go, You!

I liked what Spurgeon said, “Sin is dreadful business. It is to offend the Almighty to His face and commit acts of treason at the foot of His throne!”

I have been thinking for some time about the business of counseling. So much of counseling is offering “solutions.” “You have this problem? Then do this and things will be better.” Those thoughts certainly have their place, but I have sadly observed first hand over the years how few people seem to actually be helped by that approach. Currently, I am suspecting that the problem is that, in so doing, we really do not address the person’s relationship with God (or lack thereof).  I am beginning to surmise that many problems are actually just the symptoms of a deficient view of God, of a deficient relationship with Him. The typical approach to counseling then is an attempt to treat symptoms without addressing the real problem. Now there is always the problem that we must learn and always be learning, no matter how good our relationship with God. We all have much to learn, even a person who has a robust view of God and is actually enjoying a real relationship with Him. I suppose our common approach to counseling would be appropriate for that person. They have a good relationship with God, they just don’t see how Scripture applies in their current situation. That is where godly counsel is a welcome blessing.

But, in this day of pervasive spiritual immaturity, I’m afraid few qualify. Instead, most often the problem is not a lack of knowledge but a deficient relationship with God. Even Biblical counseling is largely ineffective because we aren’t addressing the real problem. Perhaps we should use counseling and people’s “presentation problems” to first of all explore the reality (or lack thereof) of their relationship with God. If their problems are only symptoms, then perhaps it would be the better part of wisdom to disappoint them and not rush to tell the man how to “fix” his marriage.

I don’t know if this is making sense to anyone. It is all still forming in my own mind. But what do I mean? I think about Spurgeon’s comment above, “Sin is dreadful business.” Take for example a thief. What is his biggest problem? Is it that he steals? I would suggest that his biggest problem is that he imagines God doesn’t see or at least he isn’t even aware that God is present. If he, like Spurgeon, could truly see that he is “offending the Almighty to His face” and “committing acts of treason at the foot of His throne,” he could immediately see the folly of stealing. If he really knew God, he would see that he doesn’t need to steal. “I’ve been young and I’ve been old,” said David, “but I have never seen the children of the righteous begging bread.” “Jehovah Jireh: God will provide.” I suspect when Paul wrote, “Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him work with his hands …,” he was not simply prescribing behavioral modification. He was presuming he was speaking to genuinely born again people who had a real relationship with God. Certainly even a born again man who has spent his life stealing needs direction how to re-package his brain, how to see his needs and wants differently. But I fear our typical approach to counseling is simply to prescribe, “Here’s what you need to do …,” while we are most likely speaking to a person who in reality does not know God. I wonder how “counseling” would look different if that relationship was first on our agenda and behavioral modification was simply an outgrowth of it. I wonder how children’s Sunday School or Youth Groups or college ministries would be different if our main concern was to cultivate strong relationships with God, rather than seeing them all as tools for behavioral modification? Food for thought anyway.

Back to our passage, I feel like studying the first 12 verses of this Psalm has moved me a notch further along in my own relationship with God. I studied this very Psalm years ago and have, since then, enjoyed feeding on the idea of God’s amazing knowledge and presence. “He knows when I sit down and when I get up!” It occurred to me back then that basically no one else really notices or cares. Yet the God of the universe notices and cares – even something as trivial as my sitting and rising. Even now, the thought makes my head spin. But somehow, in my heart, He was still “over there.” Then I thought about like with my wife or my children or other family and good friends. How would I like it if they could be right here with me … forever? Would that not be heaven itself? But my God is the same way. I want Him here with me. Just like my family. And He is! I’ve just never thought of Him exactly that way. Interesting how it warms my heart, just like having one of my little punkins sitting on my lap while I worked at the computer or taking them with me to the hardware store. My mind floods with pleasant memories of loved ones with me. But in a new and different way, I can actually include God in that warmth! He’s been there all along, of course, I just didn’t see it or see it clearly enough to actually warm my heart. And He always will be … both now and into eternity! If I ascend into the heavens or go down to the depths, if I take the wings of the dawn to the furthest parts of the sea, … You! I’ll always have my best friend with me!

Nice.