When I awake, I am still with You

By: Carole L. Haines

How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You. (Psalm 139:17-18)

I woke up this morning and after bathing, went out on the back deck surrounded by trees. The thought came to me, “When I awake, I am still with You.” I realized just how everywhere present our wonderful God is. I love Psalm 139 so much, it is the most intimate Psalm, revealing just how deeply God know us, His created ones.

My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;
¹⁶ Your eyes have seen my formless substance;
And in Your book were written
All the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:15-16)

When I awake, I am still with Him because He is everywhere present, or in theological terms, omnipresent. Why would we want it any other way? Well, Sin! Sin is why we run and try to hide from God sometimes. Just like Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, we run from Him. But God comes to us, calling us, reminding us that we cannot escape His loving gaze.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
⁹ If I take up the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
¹⁰ Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
¹² Even 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)

Eventually we learn to run towards God when we sin, instead of from Him. He beckons us to come and be forgiven, come and be healed, come and be freed.

Search me, God, and know my heart;
Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts;
²⁴ And see if there is any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way. (Psalm 139:23-24)