God is very gracious to man and with man. He provides the gift of salvation and the gift of eternal life. He promises never to leave or forsake His own. We are just pilgrims on this earth. Heaven is the home for every true child of God. That is the place our souls long to be. That is where our minds need to be trained to.
In our text the Psalmist continued to write under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He was directed to write of the omnipresence of the LORD. There is no place to hide from God. Those who are saved have no reason to run from His presence. When we sin, we try to run and hide, but there is no place to hide. Adam discovered that in the Garden. He found out too late that God knew all about him and He knew where he was at every moment of time.
For the saved person it is comforting to know that we can never get away from His spirit. We can never get out of His presence. David spoke of heaven. The Bible tells us there are three heavens. In David’s day we do not read of man getting off the ground. There have been some archeological discoveries that give rise to the thought that man may have been able to ascend into the first heaven long before the Wright brothers. The third Heaven is where God’s throne is. That is where the saved are headed. It does not matter if a person can soar up in the realm of the birds or even if he can get up to where the moon is, he cannot get away from the LORD. The LORD made all things and He is greater than all things.
The other extreme that God spoke of here is hell. God knows where every person goes at death. He knows of those who have been buried at sea and those who have been burnt and those who have been cut up and scattered around. He knows where we are at all times.
In verse 9 David spoke of the wings of the morning. We speak of the sun rising in the morning. We speak of a beautiful sunrise. We only see the sun for a certain amount of time in the day. David also spoke of dwelling in the uttermost parts of the sea. We know that during Solomon’s time, there were many ships sailing the seas. It did not matter, the LORD is everywhere. The sailor that is saved can trust the Lord to guide him on the sea as much as the man who stands on solid ground.
That is what verse 10 talks of. Jesus walked on the water. Peter asked Him to invite him to come to Him. Jesus did that and Peter walked on water as well. Jesus was with them in the ship and He was with Peter on the water. Peter took his eyes off the LORD and he began to sink. Jesus reached out and took him up and into the ship. Peter had many things to learn. We all do.
The Psalmist understood that the LORD would be with him anywhere and everywhere he went. That is a comfort. David wrote of the LORD’s right hand. His right hand is strong. We can count on His right hand to hold us and to guide us. We are safe if we are in the Father’s hand. He will lead us safely into glory.
In verse 11 David spoke of the darkness. You have to get out into the country to experience real darkness. In town there are lights on. Many homes have night lights because they do not want total darkness. Out in the country it is the stars and the moon that give some light. If it is cloudy there is not even that light. However, the child of God is never in darkness. Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. We can walk safely with Him leading us. He will never lead us astray. Even when we face death, He is there to guide us safely into that way that we only walk once. We do not plan that road. We need to know the LORD and trust Him to lead us through the shadow of the valley of death. He will lead us safely through to the other side. He knows the way.
The darkness cannot separate us from Him. Even when life seems dark. There are things that we face in life that seem dark. They seem as though they are of greater consequence than we can bear. David discovered that there was nothing that God could not lead us through. The darkest night is as the day. Darkness and light are the same to the LORD.
We need to know Him. We need to be in His Word and trust Him to lead us safely along life’s road. We will face challenges. We are human. Some of those challenges may seem more than we can handle.
I listened to the story of a young woman who was deceived into taking the poison shots. She went to bed healthy and woke of a paraplegic. Her life was drastically changed. She did not talk of a husband. She talked of the response she received from the “great” medical system of our country. We pay for that system. However, they lied to us throughout the Wuhan virus event. It was not a pandemic. It was a lie. They offered her the option of being put into a seniors home or MAID. They wanted her to choose death. At this point she is not ready to choose death. If she would come to know the LORD she would have hope. Presently, according to her testimony she is quite discouraged. She does not know how she will make it.
If a person is trusting in this world, there is nothing to hope for. Life is quite dark. Troubles come and how can you make it through them. Those who know the LORD can come through dark moments and can see the Light shining through and leading us on.
David was directed to write about the hope we can have in the LORD. We have the same LORD that David knew and wrote about. It is important to know Him and trust in Him. He will lead us safely along the narrow way if we trust in Him. He will put us on that way and He will bless us on that way.
Pastor Bartel