where can I go from your Spirit?

“Where can I go from your spirit?Or where can I flee from your presence?” — Psalm 139:7

“God cannot be avoided. We do not escape him by staying away from church or running away from home. We do not put distance between him and us by retreating to the mountains or adventuring across the seas. Always and everywhere, he is the one with whom we have to do.”

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PRAYER: God, when I am lonely, I want you to be close to me but feel you are far away; when I am guilty, I want you to be far away but can't escape the sense of your presence. My feelings, I know, have little to do with the reality of your presence. Thank you for being with me to bless and not condemn, to comfort and not accuse, even in Jesus the Messiah. Amen.

(from Eugene Peterson)