Can we ever escape from God? In the Psalm appointed for this week, the psalmist is adamant that we can never escape from God’s Spirit. Whether we plumb to the deepest ocean or scale the highest mountain, God’s presence is there with us. In August 2000 the Russian submarine Kursk was stranded at the bottom of the sea cut off from the rest of the world and yet God was there with the 23 crew as they waited in vain to be rescued. The same can be said for the Chilean miners temporarily trapped underground in August 2010 and countless others who find themselves in the remotest parts of the earth seemingly separated from everyone and everything – everyone except God! In 1953 when Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to reach the summit of Everest, God was there with them. The psalmist is adamant that God is everywhere we go so that we can never escape from His Spirit.
In our Old Testament reading for this week we read the story of Jacob isolated and alone near Luz as he leaves his home in Beersheba. In his apparent inaccessibility, God appears to Jacob and says, “I will be with you wherever you go.” The Gospel account for this week is the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Jesus is clear that all who belong to him will be rescued from whatever place they find themselves in. In the Epistle reading for this week, the Apostle writes, “All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” There is nothing and nowhere within God’s created universe from which God cannot rescue us. As the author and owner of creation, there is nowhere we can go where God has not been before and where He currently reigns. As such, we can never escape from God’s Spirit; what a glorious thought and a great encouragement when we find ourselves in difficult places and difficult times.
Old Testament reading for this week: Genesis 28:10-19
Gospel reading for this week: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Epistle reading for this week: Romans 8:12-25
Psalm for this week: Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24