Psalm 139:11-12 — If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Rituals are important in marriage — I like the way Dr. William J. Doherty put it at the 2000 Denver Smart Marriages conference: “And so, when we cling to each other through our marital rituals, we are set free. Free to risk the uncertainties and pain of conflict, free to explore the astonishing emotional intimacy that only marriage can offer us, knowing that when we cling always, we are free to fly together.”
Myra and I have a lot of rituals that I suppose some people would call silly, but which mean a lot to us. One is a way in which she reminds me, every morning, that God is watching me. Now this morning I had to be into work early, so when Myra reminded me I pointed out that it was dark! Just kidding of course, but it reminded me of this passage. (I keep saying I don’t have favorite bits in the Bible, but if I did, Psalm 139 would be one of my favorite Psalms!). There are those who try to hide their misdeeds in the dark — but it can’t be done. Isaac Watts states the case in the last verse of his hymn “I sing the mighty power of God”. Verse 6 says “Creatures that borrow life from Thee are subject to Thy care; There’s not a place where we can flee, but God is present there.” In his master work on the Psalms, The Treasury of David, Spurgeon comments:
A good man will not wish to be hidden by the darkness, a wise man will not expect any such thing. If we were so foolish as to make sure of concealment because the place was shrouded in midnight, we might well be alarmed out of our security by the fact that, as far as God is concerned, we always dwell in the light; for even the night itself glows with a revealing force,—“even the night shall be light about me.”
That first sentence goes to the heart of the issue. Not only is it not smart to think we can hide from God — but we shouldn’t even seek to — 1 John 1:5-7 provides the point of view we should be taking:
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
To wrap it all up then, just as Adam found in the Garden, there is no hiding place from God … so Myra’s reminder that He’s watches me constantly still applies!