“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,’ Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.” Psalm 139:7-12
Reflect
Feelings come and go, but God is omnipresent. In seasons of anxiety, depression, grief, exhaustion, and suffering, God may feel distant to us, but that does not mean he is absent. In seasons of waiting, it may feel as if our prayers hit the ceiling fan and come circling back down, but that is far from true. God is always near us. God is present even in hell in dispensing his wrath. And for the believer, he resides inside us—fully and constantly. There is not a place on earth that you could go to run from his presence.
Our hearts are deceptive and create feelings that, at times, bear no truth. During those times, we must learn to cling to the truth we know about God—he is always present. When our hearts cry like the Psalmist’s, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” we need to turn to God’s Word and dwell on the truth that he is omnipresent, and he resides in us as believers. When we feel as if God is silent to our prayers, we have his Word that is living and active, where he continues to speak to us by means of applying his Word to our hearts.
Don’t lose heart, friend. God is near, even now, even in your darkest moment. He is listening, and he has spoken through his Word to you. In your loneliness, in your misery, turn to our omnipresent God.
Pray
God, today I feel lonely. I feel as if you are far from me in my suffering, that you aren’t hearing a word that I say. Help me to remember that you are with me, that will never abandon me. Help me to trust you and what your Word says about you. Help me to find comfort in you today.
Your Turn
What truth comforts you when you battle loneliness? Make a list of verses you can turn to in those times.
