psalm 139 - to whom do you listen - 21st week tuesday - passion of john the baptist

Today let us reflect on psalm 139, one of the most beautiful psalms, a subject of so many beautiful hymns in the church.

Psalm 139 speaks of two qualities of God – omniscience and omnipresence.  God knows everything and God is present everywhere.

God knows everything.  In just one stanza he uses the verbs – you probed me, you know me, you understand my thoughts, you scrutinize me, I am familiar to you.  That’s how God is to each one of us.  He knows us intimately. God is omniscient.

God is also present everywhere.  He is always with us, always there by our side.  God will always be there for us.  God is omnipresent.

If you think however that this is a fine arrangement think again.  Even the psalmist seems to bulk at the idea that God knows everything in me even my inmost thoughts and that God is always there even if I escape to the heavens above or to the earth below to be freed from his presence, from his gaze and from his scrutiny. “Where can I go from your spirit?  From your presence where can I flee?”

There are parts of our lives which we want to keep to ourselves.  There are places and activities we would rather have God leave us alone, undertakings we would rather not involve God at all.

And yet God is persistent as expounded by the psalmist, “if I take the wings of the dawn, if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea, you Lord are there.”

More and more there are parts of your lives we would not want God to be very involved; there are discussions and debates in our lives we would rather not bring God in; there are activities in our lives we would not want God too close.  We don't want God to be involved in our discussion of divorce.  We do not want God to get so involved or say something in our war against drugs, when we use criminality and the mistakes of people as a pretense to kill.  We do not want God to meddle in certain areas of our lives.

That is too sad in a nation which calls itself catholic and Christian.

But how long can we keep on fleeing away from God?  How far can we go without him?  How far can we be duped into believing that we are better off without God in our lives and in our society?

We are no better off than Herod who had to imprison and behead John the Baptist because he does not want him to meddle in his marital affairs.  It is indeed sad when Herod would rather listen to his querida than to the prophet of God.  But can we really flee from God?  Can we?  How long can we dampen the voice that speaks within us, how long can we cover our ears?