"Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your Presence?...If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You." Psalm 139: 7, 11
When I was a child, I feared being alone especially at night. Because my older sisters were closer in age, they shared a room while I had one of my own. While this might seem ideal to some, it was a bane to me. I sought reassurance each night as darkness settled upon me like a damp blanket.
"What time is it?' I'd call out to Mother. "Nine o'clock," came the tired reply. "Now go to sleep."
I'd try to converse with my siblings across the hall, a temporary fix. Finally, I was given a radio to dispel the deepening gloom of loneliness.
As I grew in body and faith, securely sealed by the Spirit, I viewed the Presence of Christ in me as a flashlight that would cast light into the unknown as I entered its realm. Yet, the more I learned about the omnipresence of our God, I have had to revise my view. He is not merely a light that comes with me; He has gone on before me, turning on all the lights along the way!
Upon the exodus from Egypt, the children of Israel had His glorious Presence with them in their wilderness: "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night." (Exodus 13:21)
Since the cross and the empty tomb, God has gone one better than the pillars - His very Spirit resides in me, closer than my own heart. No person or no thing can ever turn off the Light.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
"God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5
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