I recently sent a gift to a friend. I was able to track the delivery as the van made it way around the town where my friend lives. But while I could see where the van was, I couldn’t control what the driver did. For all I knew they might decide to chuck a load of the parcels in a hedge and go home early! But then I suppose they would have got into trouble.
In a similar way the Bible says that God knows every move we make but chooses not to control everything we do. In Psalm 139 the writer asks, ‘Where can I go from your Spirit?’ and then explains that there is literally nowhere he can go where God is not.
Over the years I have found this an enormous comfort. Such as the time when a dear friend went missing. I had no idea where they were, but I knew that God knew and that he loved them. Or the time I was travelling alone in Africa and was hauled off a bus by the police without any idea why. But I knew that God knew and that He was with me.
The Psalmist knew God and so declared with confidence, ‘Your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.’
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