Spend some time with God

Saturday Devotional:

Be Still, He is close!

Welcome to Pathway Community Church’s annual all church retreat! We hope this weekend is a blessed weekend for your soul to be renewed and refreshed. As we spend a few minutes each morning in devotion to God, we are going to read Psalm 139 together. We encourage you to find a quiet place to sit and read these scriptures, especially as you look at the trees, the sky, hear the birds, feel the breeze, and absorb the warmth of the sun. God created all of these things AND He created YOU! The God that formed the entire world in all of its grandeur also created you. He is above us, around us, and also close to us.

For this first devotional, let’s read the first half of Psalm 139 and realize both how big God is, beyond our farthest travel, but also how close He is, knowing our movements and our thoughts.

Psalm 139 (The MSG)

1-6 GOD, investigate my life;

get all the facts firsthand.

I’m an open book to you;

even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.

You know when I leave and when I get back;

I’m never out of your sight.

You know everything I’m going to say

before I start the first sentence.

I look behind me and you’re there,

then up ahead and you’re there, too—

your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful—

I can’t take it all in!

7-12 Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit?

to be out of your sight?

If I climb to the sky, you’re there!

If I go underground, you’re there!

If I flew on morning’s wings

to the far western horizon,

You’d find me in a minute—

you’re already there waiting!

Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!

At night I’m immersed in the light!”

It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;

night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

——

Have you ever tried to escape someone or something? Little kids hide under their covers when they’re scared of the monster in the closet. Teenagers hide in their rooms to escape interacting with their parents or siblings. Even adults find moments by taking breaks at work, going for drive to get out of the house, or even a vacation, which we call “a get-away” will help us escape our day to day obligations. Some people hide their past, their shame, or their hurts too.

Psalm 139 is incredible profound because it points out that God is present everywhere. Wherever we could go to try to avoid God, He is there! If you are outside right now, look at the furthest place you can see; maybe up the mountains, to the top of the tree that we would never be brave enough to climb, or maybe hiking down into the valley. God is above the mountain, He spoke the tree into existence, and the dark valley is not dark to Him. For people that want to escape, this is a harsh reality, but for people that NEED to get found, this is a beautiful encouragement.

The book, “Everything I Needed to Know I learned in Kindergarten,” tells the story of a group of kids playing hide and seek in a neighborhood. One kid hides under the window of a neighbor and never gets discovered. At one point, all the neighborhood kids call out “All clear! Olly olly oxen free!” the call for everyone to come out and start over. The kid under this window does not leave, maybe not wanting to give up such a good hiding spot. The man in the house leans out the window and says “Hey kid! Go get found!” The book then talks about a woman who was diagnosed with cancer that did not tell her loved ones until she became very ill. She told everyone she didn’t want to be a burden to anyone else with her problems, but all of her close friends would have told her that they wished they would have known. If we were her friends, we might tell her, “Hey! All clear. Go get found.”

As you read and pray this morning, know that there is a God that is not only physically unescapable, but that also knows us. He knows our past, our hurts, our stresses. Stop trying to hide from God and go get found. Stop hiding from your friends and loved ones this weekend, and go get found. Be still, and be close. Our closeness to God is directly tied to our openness to Him. He is everywhere, and He already knows all things, but are we acknowleding Him and letting our walls come down to be close to Him?

Journal Questions:

1) Do any specific verses in Psalm 139 stand out to you? What are they and why do the impact you?

2) Are there anythings that you have been hiding in your heart? Are there things you wish you had more support in, from stresses and heaviness, to sin and shame that you can’t seem to shake off, to just wanting to be seen by someone else? Take time to pray those things to God and know that God knows what you’re thinking. . . even before you open your mouth to speak it.

3) Ask God this weekend for the boldness to find community this weekend. Is there something that you have been wanting to talk about with someone? Pray that God opens the door for a conversation this weekend. “Hey kid! Go get found!”

Sunday Devotional:

Be Still and Know Your Calling

Happy Sunday! Today we will read the second half of Psalm 139. Remember that He is bigger than creation and is all around us, but He is also close. He not only made all things, He also MADE YOU! Being close to God includes understanding all the wonderful things that this powerful God put into His own creation.

Psalm 139 (The MSG)

13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I’d even lived one day.

17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!

God, I’ll never comprehend them!

I couldn’t even begin to count them—

any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!

And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!

And you murderers—out of here!—

all the men and women who belittle you, God,

infatuated with cheap god-imitations.

See how I hate those who hate you, GOD,

see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;

I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.

Your enemies are my enemies!

23-24 Investigate my life, O God,

find out everything about me;

Cross-examine and test me,

get a clear picture of what I’m about;

See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—

then guide me on the road to eternal life.

——

There is a psychology theory called “the five to one ratio” where it takes five positive interactions to balance one negative one. We use it in parenting workshops to encourage parents, who so easily point out what needs to be corrected, to remember to take time to point out the positive things that they see their children doing. It is easy to take the constructive criticism when you know that you are fully seen (not just the bad but also all of the good).

The world tends to beat us up. We may hear that we’re not good enough at something, failure is magnified, and very often we feel like we are not “keeping up” with everyone around us. If we add direct negativity, what someone might say to us whether it is constructive or actual hurtful words, we can end up way out of ratio. This often leads us to pessimistic thoughts about ourselves, with self-deprecating statements, critical thoughts, and negative mindsets.

Be still and know that this is YOUR God! He created you. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. Go and look at all the creation of God around you, from the trees, the flowers, the grass, the sky, and see all of that beauty and know that you are part of that wonderful creation!

Psalm 139 says it well when it says, “Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation!” Look at yourself and say, “WOW! God, great job!” When we recognize that we are marvelously made, then it gives us a stronger sense of purpose. Instead of keeping up with the expectations of the world, we realize that we were made with a purpose. Our job is not to meet worldy standards, but to live up to a divine calling!

Understanding God’s intention in our lives will move us to live above wickedness and hate. If we are called to an eternal greatness, we do not find ourselves wading in pettiness. Why would we concern ourselves with hate when we are called to righteousness and love?

Journal Questions:

Take a moment to write down any thoughts you had while reading today: Something you might want to remember in the future.

1) Are there moments when you do not feel marvelously made? Why? Take time to acknowledge and then let go of the hurt and the lies that either the world, someone else, or you have put on yourself. Give God thanks and pray over 5 positive things that God created in you for every one of those negative things that have been sitting on you. Give God glory for the beauty of His creation.

2) Recognize that you are no only created by God, but you are called into His presence and purpose! We have two great requests in the second half of Psalm 139. “Let me rise in the morning and live always with you!. . . guide me on the road to eternal life.” As you let go of the weight of negativity and self doubt, can you replace it with a positive purpose? What does God want for your life? How do you want to live for Him? What is He calling you into?

3)Think of someone that you can share your convictions with from this weekend. Is there someone you can talk about how God is speaking to you before you leave retreat? Are there people you want to share this truth with when you go home? Pray and ask God for opportunities to share.