Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 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. (NIV)

Anyone who has ever played “peekaboo” with a baby knows how amusing the baby finds the game and how funny it is that the baby believes you have disappeared when they cannot see you. As they grow, it becomes amusing to them to be the one hiding. Giggles abound when the child attempts to hide behind their hands, genuinely believing that if they cannot see you, you cannot see them.  

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Psalm 139 reminds me of a parent/child relationship and how often we tend to act like a young child playing peekaboo with God. Since becoming a parent several years ago, I am continually amazed by the vast array of lessons I have been gently taught by my loving Heavenly Father, in which I am his child “playing peekaboo.” Does he really see me? Is he really there? The Holy Spirit is so faithful to gently correct my childish thinking. How silly I must look trying to “hide” from him. If I have sin and try to keep in the dark, he sees me in plain sight like a child hiding behind my hands.  

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Today’s Scripture is a beautifully written psalm, which I HIGHLY encourage you to read and study in its entirety. It is one of those sections of Scripture that makes you sigh a deep breath of relief – that there is a God, you are not him, and, to top it off, he knows you intimately and loves you more that you can fathom. It details just how perfectly and thoroughly God knows us and how impossible it would be to hide from his Spirit. Even, how foolish it would be to try. How kind of God to lay this out for us, just how vast his reach is and how deep his love. He is everywhere. He sees everything, but instead of this upsetting us because we cannot hide, it is meant to comfort us for the same reason. There’s a God that sees it all and loves you anyway.  

I recently took my children to VBS where the older ones were able to attend and my youngest was not quite old enough. One chaotic morning, I moved through the sea of moms and kids trying to get where they were going. I paused for a moment to say hello to a friend but did not grab my two-year old’s hand when I began to move again. I remembered only seconds later and turned and found a heartbreaking scene. She stood still in a doorway to the crowded room, her eyes filling with tears as they darted from place to place in search of me. Panic had risen so quickly that she had lost me; but I saw her. I knew she was only steps behind me, and I could easily scoop her up even though her eyes were not focused on me.  

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I don’t know how many times I have turned to panic when I cannot see God moving; when I don’t know what direction he is taking. I feel left standing in the doorway not knowing what to do. What my childish heart forgets is the Holy Spirit is with me all the time. Everywhere. I cannot escape him, even if I wanted to. He sees me. I cannot soar higher, dig a pit deep enough, sail far enough away for him to not still be holding me in his loving arms. What a comfort that our God is with us.  

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It is hard for our childlike brains to comprehend the Holy Spirit’s presence being EVERYWHERE. It is hard to imagine he loves and deeply cares for us, no matter our maturity level, but he reminds us over and over, wherever we go, he is there. Scripture is full of these reminders of who God is. In addition to Psalm 139, one of my favorites is the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:20 as he gives the Great Commission. While we have a mission to GO and make disciples, his reminder is that “Surely I am with you always…” Praise God, he is there, always.  

God, we remain astounded by your love. We have so much to learn. I pray you would continue to remind us you are with us. We can have confidence that wherever we go YOU ARE THERE. For anyone today who, like a child, is hiding from you; or scanning a room thinking you have abandoned us, help us to know the comfort of your presence and rest in the assurance you are there. Amen.