The Wonderful Awareness of the Power and Presence of God
Photo by Kyle Nieber on Unsplash
You Know Me
My wife recalls a time in her childhood when she imagined herself as a character in a storybook being read by someone greater than herself. This was her first sense of God's existence and presence.
Her awareness of God’s presence and power was simplistic and childlike, but real. God made His existence and presence known to her, as He will to anyone open to believe.
The concept of God being ever-present, powerful, and all-knowing can be reassuring and scary at the same time. My wife's childlike sense of God's omnipresence opened up her realization of His omniscience and omnipotence.
Words like omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence are theological terms to describe the essence of God’s nature.
My wife didn’t think in those terms as a child, but she began to understand how God was nearby and everywhere, all-powerful, and knew her as He knows all things.
King David doesn't use these theological terms either, but described each of them in Psalm 139, as he did in other psalms of worship. He had a very personal relationship with God.
Here below is a portion of what David writes in Psalm 139. It captures my wife’s childlike sense of God. Take time to read through the whole Psalm from David’s ancient but personal perspective to capture a genuine, yet childlike view of God.
Scripture
For the choir director; a psalm by David.
O Lord, you have examined me, and you know me.
You alone know when I sit down and when I get up.
You read my thoughts from far away.
You watch me when I travel and when I rest. You are familiar with all my ways.
Even before there is a single word on my tongue, you know all about it, Lord.
You are all around me—in front of me and in back of me. You lay your hand on me.
Such knowledge is beyond my grasp. It is so high I cannot reach it.
Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run to get away from you?
If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, you are there.
If I climb upward on the rays of the morning sun
or land on the most distant shore of the sea where the sun sets,
even there your hand would guide me and your right hand would hold on to me.
If I say, “Let the darkness hide me and let the light around me turn into night,”
even the darkness is not too dark for you.
Night is as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
(Psalms 139:1-12 GW) [Context– Psalm 139]
Reflections and Insights
David understood God wasn’t distant from us, even though He is much greater than we are. David understood God’s sovereignty and His attributes without losing sight of God’s personal nearness. Not only was David aware of how well God knew him—he knew God.
Psalm 139 gives us great insight into King David’s relationship with God and how well he understood who God was. We can see his great love for God and his intimate relationship with God. David’s reverent awe of God was evident.
David exclaims—"You know me." He understood that God knew his very thoughts and motives—all of them! David’s son, King Solomon, later declared—"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7).
David’s awareness of God’s greatness didn’t cause him to cringe in fear, but gave him great assurance of God’s love and mercy. His reverent awareness of God also gave David the freedom to be honest with God, as we see at the end of Psalm 139.
David understood God’s presence and power. He knew God to be his Creator and Redeemer because God revealed Himself to David.
God desires all people everywhere to know Him as David did.
Reflection—
Have you experienced a sense of God's nearness in your life? God wants us to know Him as He already knows us—in an intimate, personal relationship.
Prayer Focus—
When God seems distant, set aside some time to read through Psalm 139 prayerfully, then ask God to reveal Himself to you as He did to David. Ask the Lord for a genuine, childlike faith to believe that you may know His presence and power.
Would you like a free study guide for your study of Psalms?
Click the link for a free Psalms Study Guide
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases (books mentioned and linked).
