“Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” – Psalms 139:10
Even though I went to church a lot in my youth, it was later in life that I learned one of the more interesting things about the Bible. I can’t remember which pastor it was that taught me this, but the Bible is entirely about Jesus. The New Testament is about Jesus’s life while the Old Testament is about foretelling His coming. So, even though this Psalm was written before Jesus was born, to me it still makes me think of His life and the great gift that he will be to us as God’s “right hand.”
Jesus is many things to many people. Healer, Teacher, Saviour, God. But one that is often overlooked is Friend. Friends can be there for us in ways that other relationships can’t. They make a choice to be in our lives, and to have us in theirs. Often, they don’t carry all the baggage that we can have with our family but also can play the role of listener in ways that our families can’t.
Throughout this Psalm David is lamenting that no matter how hard he tries to run from God, He is there for David, shining light into his life and lifting the darkness. This is something that can play out in our own lives with our friends. Sometime, even as we do our best to run away from them, our friends are there for us, compassionately but forcefully keeping themselves in our lives. Ideally, in a perfect world, we would stop running. But sometimes it’s hard to know where to go when you’re in the darkness, and good friends will come and find you and bring you home. Jesus is no different.
So ask Him, “Will you meet me in my darkest place, the place that I can’t even show my wife, or father, or priest?”
“Yes,” He will answer, “Even there.”
What Lies Before 