As Close as My Heart

10.27.2010

Psalm 114:7-8 7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8  who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water. ESV

This psalm says that when the people came out of Egypt that Judah was His sanctuary and Israel His dominion. This went against the belief that God was ‘out there’ and was intended to teach them that God is ‘now here’. Judah wasn’t the first-born of Jacob but was the fourth-born. But from the fourth-born came the ruler, the Messiah. Not the likely first-born, which they would’ve expected, but the unlikely fourth-born. Look for God where you least expect Him.

The psalm says that the earth trembles in the presence of the Lord – we need to emulate the earth, we need to do as it does by its nature. And here’s the point: God is the One who turns rocks into a pools of water… and does it in a desert! God told Moses to speak to the rock and out of it would flow enough water to quench the thirst of the people and their animals. Who looks for pools of water in deserts springing from rock? Only those who’ve learned to look for God where they least expect Him.

Psalm 114 is a song of encouragement and a song that helps me to remember that God seems to ignore conventional wisdom and the predictable. If God is predictable in any manner, it is this: He’s unpredictable. I need to remember that and tremble in His presence. I ought to do what the earth does: obey Him completely and even when and where it all looks lost. When things go bad and things get tough, I’ll look for God and that’s enough!

Father in Heaven,
You must delight in what appears to me as impossible situations. You must smile and whisper in my heart, “Look up! Listen! I am so close!” Thank You for this little psalm with such encouragement. Teach me to always look for You where I when I least expect You. Thank You that You are always close by – as close as my heart! Amen.