Harry was a retiree who had a daily routine that began with breakfast every morning with his buddies at the local greasy spoon. One morning, the waitresses were short-handed and service was moving slower than normal and the man was getting impatient.
“Hey, can you go ahead and bring me my coffee and breakfast?” He ordered the same thing every morning, so the waitress knew exactly what he wanted: two eggs over medium, bacon strips and grits.
His buddy across the table said, “Harry, what’s your hurry?”
“My wife’s breakfast will be served at 8 o’clock, and I have to get to the nursing home to eat breakfast with her.”
The man said, “Harry, I’m sorry, but you know your wife hasn’t known you for three years, and she’s not going to know what time you get there, or really whether you’re there or not.”
Harry paused for a minute, clenched his teeth, and finally said, “I don’t go down there to eat breakfast with her and sit with her all morning, then eat lunch with her, and stay with her all afternoon, and then eat supper with her, and then tuck her into bed at night because she knows me. I go down there because I know her.”
One of the most amazing truths of God’s Word is that God really knows us. Psalm 139:1-3 reads,
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me,
“You know my sitting down and my rising up,
“You understand my thought from afar off,
“You comprehend my path and my lying down
“And are acquainted with all my ways.”
To search means to dig. God digs deep into our souls and knows us better than we know ourselves. The word know refers to intimate knowledge. That means He knows exactly where we are and how we are doing. Often, when someone greets us with How are you doing? we say “Fine,” when we really aren’t. God knows how we’re really doing. He knows the burdens we carry, the stress we’re under, the dilemma we’re in.
Another amazing truth is that God is always with us. Psalm 139:7-10 relates that God is in all places at all times. There is never a time that He’s absent. He’s always present with us and always on the job.
Often we hear from the person in a crisis, “Where is God when I needed Him?” He’s right here. He never leaves us nor abandons.
Sometimes we hear from the lonely person, “Where is God? I feel so alone.”
The good news is you’re not alone. God promises to be right here with you.
Because God is with us, we can always depend on Him. He’s with us.
When David Livingstone, the famous missionary to Africa, returned to England for a brief visit near the end of his life, he was honored by Queen Victoria. She asked him to speak to students at Cambridge University.
Very simply, he said to them, “Men, shall I tell you what it was that kept me true to my resolve through all those years in the dark continent? It was promise of Jesus, who said, “And, Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world.”
We should never take God’s presence for granted; instead, we should live in the constant awareness of the presence of God.
Someone said, “Security is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God, no matter what the danger.”
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Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville, Georgia. The church family gathers at 352 McDonough Road, just past the department of drivers’ services building, and invites you to join them for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. each Sunday. Visit them on the web at www.mcdonoughroad.org.
