I was recently reading Psalm 139, a chapter I hold dear to my heart that magnifies the character of God and His intentional love toward us. In the NKJV version, the chapter is titled “God’s perfect knowledge of man,” and it details how omniscient and how omnipresent God is. Verse 11-12 describes how darkness to us, is light to God. After all, Jesus came to be the Light of the World and so there’s nothing that can be hidden from Him—even the darkest of emotions that we experience, and the darkest of seasons that hold an unbearable weight to them. God. sees.it.all. So if He sees it all, and He’s there through it all, why is there a human inclination to hide from Him?
When Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3, it introduced shame into our world. Genesis 3:10 says “so [Adam] said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself” (NKJV). This fall of man brought forth a separation between man and God that God never intended. Instead of God’s presence in the Garden of Eden bringing joy and peace, it brought fear. This is why the reconciliation of Christ’s coming is so powerful because that separation between man and God is forever broken (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). However, as humans still living in a fallen world, when we fall into sin or experience hardship or difficulty, there is a natural inclination to hide from our Creator rather than to be seen by Him. But Psalm 139 breaks down how wherever we go, even if we literally choose to dwell in the farthest ocean, God is still there.
The deepest ocean in the Earth is the Pacific Ocean, and its deepest point is called the “Mariana Trench.” In the Psalm, the author is expressing that if it was humanly possible to live in a place like the Mariana Trench, God would be with us even there. I believe this metaphor is a perfect description of the deep and dark circumstances that we face in life. The circumstances that leave us hopeless, or depressed, or crippled with fear in ways that other people don’t understand. God promises to be with us even in those difficulties. So why deny the “withness” of God through your difficulty? As Christians, when we feel those strong emotions of anger, or sadness, or frustration, we should embrace the withness of God in the midst of them, not deny both God and the emotion. Denying or suppressing the existence of the emotion only makes things worse, not better. Similarly, denying God access into the emotion, only makes things worse, not better.
Psalm 139:10 goes on to say that “even there (the deepest part of the ocean) Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me” (NKJV). Do you know what it’s like to be led by God in the midst of a difficult situation that makes you feel sad? Do you know what it’s like to be held by Him when no one else understands? There is so much power in embracing the withness of God’s presence through every difficult life situation. In doing so, I believe that can help our mental health.
I recently read “Emotionally Healthy Woman” by Geri Scazzero where she breaks down eight behaviors that women should quit doing in order to live in freedom. One of those eight behaviors is “quit denying anger, sadness, and fear.” When I first read this chapter, my former ways of thinking shed from me. Our human design includes feeling emotions, all of them, not just the ones viewed “positively,” but also the ones that have a “negative” perception to them such as anger. So when reading this book, I learned how to acknowledge these emotions rather than deny their existence, and I feel so much more free. She shares how “…God is totally trustworthy and safe. We can be entirely open with Him. We can pour out our hearts to Him because nothing, absolutely nothing, can cause God to withhold His love from us” (Scazzero, 110). Reading that really blessed me because it opened a deeper revelation that in the thick of a trying season, or a hard day, or a difficult situation, God is there with us. He’s not standing idle by, or hoping we’d figure things out on our own, He’s right there with us waiting for us to acknowledge Him and open up our hearts to Him as we face the challenge.
If we’d embrace the withness of God more and more, I believe that would transform how we take care of our mental health and provide the clarity to navigate whatever difficulty we’re facing. At the start of this piece, I shared how Jesus is the Light of the World, John 8:12 says “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the Light of the World. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the Light that leads to Life” (NLT). There is a freedom that comes with the choice to follow Jesus, and that freedom is light. Light for every dark day, circumstance, or season that we have to navigate. Just as Jesus is the Light of the World, He also is “Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.” If He promises to be with us, that should give us solace through every difficulty because what is better than being with God?
Here’s one last scripture I’ll share in closing that always leaves me encouraged, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1 NKJV). Remember, God is with you. You are not alone.
Until next time,
BeautyOluwa
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