God Ever-Present
Scripture Reading: Psalm 139
Having a few minutes to spare between scheduled appointments, we stopped by Mardel in Tulsa. Wandering around I passed by the Bible wall and made an impulse purchase. I bought the “Prayer Bible,” published by Crossway. It is a hardback Bible with 400 prayers interspersed within the biblical text. These are prayers written by pastors and preachers, missionaries and writers, men and women from throughout church history.
The Psalm for today was 139. In it are those well-known and beloved verses; “you have searched me and known me,” “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” “How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God,” and “search me, O God, and know my heart…”
Inserted in the text, after verse six, is a prayer by George Matheson, the blind Scottish hymn writer, and pastor. His prayer begins with these words: “In three directions you beset me…” Matheson continues with talk about his threefold self. I had to read it and the associated Scriptures a few times to get the gist of what he was praying.
Matheson was writing about his life in three tenses: the past, the present, and the future. His past was dark. His future was uncertain. He uses the word “shadowy.” His present circumstances were difficult. What he asks for, and by faith anticipates, is God’s presence. By faith, he senses that it is the glory of the ever-present God that will dispel the darkness of his past which haunts him, the uncertainty of the future which worries him, and the trials of the present which wearies him.
In Psalm 139 Matheson takes hope that God, being eternal and omnipresent, is always and everywhere present. Further, he believes that God is his Maker and, therefore, takes notice of him and thinks of him. This helps Matheson know he isn’t walking through life alone. And it is in this that Matheson finds rest and comfort for his soul.