By Jack Wyman

I felt a slight tingling rush of excitement as I counted down.

I could hear the rustling and scampering. There was an occasional giggle of delight.

I smiled in anticipation. Finally, the moment had arrived.

“Ready or not, here I come!” I shouted.

Even though I always suspected their hiding places, I pretended not to have a clue. I wanted the fun to go on. Then I’d spot a little foot or some little fingers. Or I’d hear some heavy nervous breathing inside a closet, the door hastily left slightly ajar.

Though they felt concealed for a time, they weren’t as good at hiding as I was at seeking.

I always found them. Try as they might, my girls couldn’t hide from their father.

Neither can we.

After they disobeyed God, suddenly ashamed of their exposure, Adam and Eve thought they could hide from their Creator among the trees.

“Where are you?” God asked as the cool evening breezes blew across the beautiful garden. God knew where they were, and He knew what they’d done. He’d seen the whole thing.

God always knows where we are.

Sometimes that reality can bring us a painful revelation. It did for our first parents. More often, God’s omniscience and omnipresence are wonderful blessings of reassurance to the children of God.

The apostle John tells us we are God’s children.

“See how very much our Father loves us,” John writes, “for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” (I John 3:1).

This amazing, glorious fact makes all the difference. More than we could ever possibly know or imagine, we matter to God. David tells of God’s omnipresence in the beautiful 139th psalm. The majesty of the King James Version seems appropriate:

“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways” (Psalm 139: 1-3).

God knows us intimately because he created us intimately. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

David expresses his awe of God’s presence. God fills all time and space. There’s not a place where He isn’t.

He’s everywhere.

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:8-10).

God doesn’t lose track of us. He doesn’t misplace us. God never wonders where we are. He knows. We are never concealed from Him.

We cannot escape Him. We can run from God, but we cannot hide. The God who sees all, knows all and planned all, knew us before we were conceived and will know us for all eternity. No sin can be hidden from Him. No pain is invisible to Him. No need is ignored by Him.

Ever.

God chose us for salvation before the foundation of the world.(Ephesians 1:4).

With a yearning heart of love, like the hound of heaven, He pursued us down the corridors of time. There was nowhere we could go where He would not find us. God’s love is unstoppable, His grace is unfathomable, and His will is unconquerable.

We are His children. Our names are inscribed on the palms of His hands and written upon His heart. We are precious to Him.

This coming year, no matter where you are, no matter what you do, or where you go; no matter what happens to you, God sees you, He loves you, and He’s with you. He will always be with you - until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

No force - no evil, no power, no circumstance, no situation, no crisis or virus - “neither our fears of today, nor our worries about tomorrow” - can ever separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

God sees and He knows, but He does more.

He acts.

Unlike the ancient mythical Greek gods of indifferent stoicism, our God cares and hears the travails of His children.

In His Son, He was Immanuel - God with us. We do not trust or worship a distant, heartless God who has no idea what it’s like here; who has not been touched by the feelings of our own infirmities - weakness, pain, sadness, temptation. In Jesus, God became flesh and was tested in all ways, as we are, yet without sin.

He intervenes.

He goes with us and comforts us when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. When we’ve lost the best and dearest to our hearts, He holds us and weeps with us.

He is with you when you cross deep waters. When you go through the fire, He is there. He promises not to let you drown in the turbulent currents of heartbreak or be consumed by the fiery flames of adversity.

As you and I step out into the unknown of another year, let us go forth - not in fear, doubt, worry or anxiety. Let us go forth in hope, confidence, strength, joy, and faith. Our sovereign God has written every moment of every one of the next 365 days of our lives in His perfect plan for us.

It’s flawless.

Not one of these days will pass when He is not aware, concerned, devoted, in love with you, and in control of every circumstance and every situation that you will face.

Rejoice in the sovereign power and presence of the Almighty God.

He’s with you. Always.

Don’t fear the future - welcome it.

You’re a child of the King.

He Reigns!

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