THE IMMANENCE OF GOD

We have been moving through the month with our eyes and hearts fixed on great and coming matters. We have often been in the sanctuary, thirsting for God, and viewing our hopes and prospects. Our eyes have been up to Him, but it is good to remember that His eyes are upon us. The words of the ancient poet are still true, “in him we live, and move, and have our being”, Acts 17. 28. How deeply God knows us; He is aware of our every act and thought, vv. 1-6. His awareness of myself I cannot avoid, vv. 7-12; He not only knows my every movement, but is in closest touch with every part of me, vv. 13-16. He knew me before I knew myself, and determined the fashion and function of my every member. As a confirmation of this, see the Lord’s words to the prophet Jeremiah, Jer. 1. 4, 5.

Now if God knows my every movement, this should surely stimulate holiness. If I cannot ever escape from Him, this deepens my assurance of His vigilant care. If he has even fashioned all my members (and that in view of my intended life, v. 16), then that fact should determine my consecration to His will. The question should long linger in our minds, “Why has He made me thus?”. My life was therefore no accident, but is intended for divine purpose. It demands that I tread carefully.

Even so, the psalm includes great encouragement for us. Since God knows me as intimately as all this, how precious are His thoughts unto me—more than can be numbered, vv. 1718. This quickens my trust in Him. He knows the worst about me and loves me still, for whenever I awake I find that I have not been forsaken, v. 18. Should not this psalm stir our resolutions for the year immediately ahead? As we therefore move onward through life toward our heavenly consummation, surely the prayer in verses 23, 24 should also be ours? Search me, know me, try me, know my thoughts, lead me in the way everlasting. Our ways must conform to His ways for us. Hence verses 1-18 should purify our aspirations, clarify our prospects and make certain our hopes. If we have been fearfully and wonderfully made and are constantly under His surveillance, then what are our lives going to be from now on?

If this God is for us, who then can be against us?