by Rev Steve Nickodemus

The presence of God.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
Psalm 139:7-8

It was a foggy morning. The mist shrouded everything, hiding the buildings and trees around me as I walked.  I felt cut off from the rest of the world, alone and friendless.  It was a cold and lonely time.

In the midst of that loneliness, David’s words echoed down to me, “Where can I go from your Spirit?” 

The answer to that question is, “Nowhere.”  There is nowhere I can flee from God’s Spirit.  There is nowhere I can reside where God does not dwell.  There is nowhere that God will not come to me.

In the midst of a lonely, dark, world, where often I can feel I have no friend or companion, the Lord is still there.  There is no place that I can go that He will not be there.

It is times like these that I think of my Dad.  He was a quiet man, but sometimes he would speak of that “lonely time” (the three and a half years he was in the Pacific during World War II).  As I read the letters he sent to his parents, back in Oregon, the loneliness comes through in every line.

Far away and lonely, in the midst of a scary place, Dad knew that God was there.  Jesus was His Friend and Companion, a present help in every trouble.  It was no accident that the one hymn that Dad wanted for his funeral was, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  Dad stated simply, “That hymn tells it all.”

“Are we weak and heavy laden, Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge – Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?  Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee; Thou wilt find a solace there. Amen!”

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado