“Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
Psalm 139:7-8

Read | Psalm 139:7-12, Jonah 1-4

Can I make a confession? Sometimes, I will go out of my way to avoid conversing with someone. I am usually just in a low-energy moment and out of space for conversation in my brain. This leads me to go around Wal-Mart to get to the register to avoid a particular person. You know God has a sense of humor, and I will often find that person in my path even though I did all I could to avoid them.

Have you read the story of Jonah lately? Go ahead, I’ll wait. It’s only four chapters.

Jonah is a prophet of God who is called to go to an enemy of Israel and warn them about God’s impending judgment. Jonah decides not to go because he believes God will show Israel’s enemies grace, and Jonah doesn’t like that. Jonah attempts to flee from God’s presence and call by going in the opposite direction he was sent. If you’ve read the story, you know Jonah was thrown off the ship and swallowed by a great fish.

I’m unsure of the logistics of being swallowed by a great fish, but I’m certain it was a harrowing experience. In the belly of the fish, Jonah begins to pray (2:1). I imagine this prayer wasn’t the sort of dignified prayer we hear on Sunday morning from the pulpit but was a cry of desperation from someone close to death. Following Jonah’s prayer, the text tells us, “The Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” God heard Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the great fish because God was with Jonah.

The Psalmist asks this question of God, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee your presence?” When we go to the heights of the mountains, God is there. God is there if we find ourselves in the depths of the sea. There is no place we can go to flee God’s presence because God is with us.

One of the places we find hope in the Jonah story is that if God is with Jonah in the belly of a fish, God is with us no matter what we are going through. While it may not have felt like God was with Jonah, God answered Jonah’s prayer. God is with us in the belly of the fish. God is with us in the lowly manger through the birth of Jesus. God is with you no matter where you find yourself today. Call out to God because God is closer than you may think!

Almighty God,
You meet us in the high places where we are invigorated with joy
And you meet us in the depths where our life feels like it is fading away.
Be with us today, no matter where life takes us.
Hear our prayers as we call out to you.
Amen.