Never Separated

Posted on February 11, 2019 by America's Keswick in Victory Call

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.  (Psalm 139:7-10 ESV)

Have you considered the presence of God in your life and how inseparable you are from Him?  I love the assurance of Psalm 139 that it is impossible for me to be hidden from His watchful care. No internal fear or external circumstance can remove me from His presence.  He leads my way and searches me out.  Jesus said that no one can snatch me out of His hand, and the meditation of the psalmist demonstrates His guardianship of me.  There is no power than can compete with His might.

I know He is with me, but still, sometimes I feel alone and separated from Him.  I can feel like Job when he says,  Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him (Job 23:8-9 ESV).  Despite Job’s complaint, the Lord was no more distant from him during his trial than when he was rich and successful.  Job said he could not find God.  The truth is that despite Job’s perceptions, God was near him during every moment of his trial.

When everything’s going well, it’s so easy to see and to praise God’s presence in my life.  But, like Job, when I’m in “the valley of the shadow of death,” I am tempted to fear evil and to believe that the Lord is not with me.  The truth is demonstrated in the full story of Job’s life – he was not lost or separated from God for even a moment.  The truth is boldly proclaimed in the Word – even in the most forsaken part of the earth, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:10 ESV).

The Lord does not idly promise His presence, but He tells us He is with us so that we may be encouraged and strengthened in our faith when trials come. Ponder the comprehensiveness of His assurance: 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).

Jenn Cougle

This devotional was first published in Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2.

Written by Jenn Cougle: Jenn serves as America’s Keswick’s audio visual technician. She is married to Steven Cougle, a Colony grad who serves in the Housekeeping department and has two sons, Titus & Ethan Cougle.