Random Thoughts on a Winter's Day - Pt 1

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall 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 dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (Psalm 139:7-12 ESV).

We’ve had a little while of cold weather here lately. Usually in our area of Texas the weather will turn cold with some freezing, perhaps even a little ice or snow, however it never lasts very long until the temperature climbs a bit and the sun warms the air enough to make it tolerable. But, since I really don’t do well in weather below eighty degrees, winter seems a good time to stay inside and do other things. That’s what I have been doing lately. The results are these Random Thoughts on a Winter’s Day. I hope they will encourage and inspire you in your journey each day. The first of these muses is that God is with you, wherever you are. Our reading today makes it very clear that God is present with us everywhere we may find ourselves at anytime we find ourselves there. However, there is another passage that brings another element to this truth. It adds the truth that God is not merely present, he is eternally protective: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 ESV). That’s easy to remember when things are going well in our lives. It’s those times, whether through our own choices or simple circumstance where our hearts are weighed down with heaviness and dread. I’ve found those are the times when we feel separated from God. But, the truth is that God sees all of that. He sees our mess, our brokenness, our pain. And He loves us. There is nowhere we can go to escape his protective love and compassion for us. There is no point in our lives where He sees us as undeserving or unworthy of grace and love. There is nothing we can do to separate ourselves from Him. So, even if you feel like you’ve gone so far from His grace that there is no possible means of return, know that He never left. It is not the strength of your grip on his hand, but the strength of the grip of his hand on you!