United Church of Christ Daily Devotional 23rd June 2025, Monday Message
You Are There
By Talitha Arnold
Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. – Psalm 139:7b-8 (NRSV)
Psalm 139 speaks to our greatest fear as human beings: being abandoned, left alone in desolate places, far from home.
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It speaks also of God’s greatest promise: that no matter where we are, God will be there. I’ve used Psalm 139 for memorial services, and I’ve prayed it in the shadowed nights of my own soul.
But last June, on my church’s trip to the Arizona/Sonora-Mexico border (our first since the pandemic), Psalm 139 took on new meaning. I’d been to the border ever since I was a child growing up in Arizona and then as a pastor serving in New Mexico. The Sonoran Desert was my first home, with all its beauty and biodiversity—and its desolation and fearsomeness. Tragically, as the border has become more militarized, the wall longer, and the asylum process stopped, crossing the desert has become a descent into Sheol.
To be sure, God’s presence can be known through the words of Psalm 139. But for the people trying to find their way through an ever more dangerous and deadly place, that Presence needs to known in the flesh—their flesh and our flesh.
The flesh of hands that leave water jugs along migrant trails and give out granola bars at the wall. Arms that embrace and uphold. Voices that make phone calls for help and speak out for just and humane policies.
Psalm 139 promises that God will be present in all times and places. And God calls us to make good on that promise.
Discussion Questions
- Read Psalm 139:7-12. Then read the devotional, “You Are There.”
- What is an experience you’ve had of God’s presence in a hard or fearful time?
- How has God enabled you to be present for someone else in their time of Sheol or abandonment?
- How can you and/or your church community be present for persons who are immigrants or refugees and might be facing arrest or deportation?
Prayer
Compassionate One, Present One, help us be your Presence in the lives of your people. Amen.
About the AuthorTalitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Mark Parts 1 and 2 of the Listen Up! Bible Study series and Worship for Vital Congregations.
