Where Can I Go?

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. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7-9, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Why would we want to go? Why would we want to flee? Perhaps when we do make our “bed in the depths” of sin or “settle on the far side of the sea” away from His will? But no matter how deep we sink or how far we wander, the time will undoubtedly come when we would like to reach out and take His hand once again. And there it is to guide us back. We can recognize it by the scars. We may have let go of Him, but he never stopped holding us “fast.“

Of course, all this presumes we belong to Him in the first place. “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Timothy 2:7-13, NIV 1984).

The disowners – To those who “disown Him,” it is most likely they never “died with Him” in the first place. He will also “disown” them. “Then I [Jesus] will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matthew 7:23, NIV 1984).

The faithless – But there will be times when even those who have really “died with Him” will be “faithless.” The times in the “depths” and the “far side.” These who “died with Him” are not disowned. “For he cannot disown Himself.” He “cannot” because it would go against His nature to not “remain faithful” to His promise. “Because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'” (Hebrews 13:5, NIV 1984).

My Advice – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NIV 1984).

Have you “been crucified with Christ?” Have you “died with Him?” It happens through and by “by faith.” If you have, then “Christ lives in [you].” That is why to disown you would be disowning Himself. Then even if you stumble in your faith and “are faithless, He will remain faithful.“

If you have not “died with Him,” then Christ does not live in you. And if you do not die with Him in life, you will die without Him in death. Away from Him for all eternity with no chance of redemption. Don’t let that happen.