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, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 139: 7-12

Before the advent of digital cameras, I remember one commercial of a film in the Philippines with a banner line saying “Nothing Escapes Agfa.” It prides itself as a film that captures all the range of colors. I thought about it upon reading the Psalmist's realization that there is no place in heaven and or earth where one can hide or flee from the presence of God. The Psalmist covers it all – from heaven to Sheol, the place of the dead, not even darkness. It is powerfully said when the Psalmist wrote, the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

One the games we played when we were children was “hide and seek,” tago-tago, as we call it in Visayan. It is a game when a group of players hide at the count of ten or twenty and then one seek to find where the rest hides. It was a fun game and there were children especially the small ones who can sneak and hide in places that no thought it was possible hide. The favorites hiding places were back the back of the doors, under the bed or inside the cabinet. At one time, one child went into the attic bringing his snacks and the rest was worried because no one can find him.

There are times in life when we wish God would not be watching us. Moments when we can say we can hide from God’s spirit and from God’s presence. It comes when we do something shameful, something contrary to who we are. At times, we just want to be left alone, all by ourselves. But the reality is that we cannot escape from God. In fact, one of the drawings that depict God is that of the All-Seeing Eye.

No place to hide – the concept is both frightening and rewarding. Frightening because none of our sins escape God’s scrutiny but also rewarding in a sense that God is always there watching and ready to help in times of need. This truth teaches us another character of God. God is omnipresent, meaning God is in all places at all times. “Nothing Escapes Agfa” it only speaks about colors. Nothing escapes God – it covers everything!

Prayer

O Lord, our God, you are omnipresent.

There is no sin that you cannot see

    no need that you cannot respond. Amen.

[Like a seed planted in the soil, it is our prayer that God's Word will grow in us as we nurture it in our hearts. Allow the seed to germinate. Your reflections and responses are welcome. Please click on the Add a new comment icon below.] Past Daily Devotions are archived at the bottom of the Sermons page.