TUESDAY

Psalm 139:7-10

• What do these verses say about God’s ability to guide you?

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with Ernest. Ernest was an older man who attended my church growing up. Ernest was probably an inch or two shorter than he once was, with white cascading curls that touched the tops of his ears. One day, after church in the lobby, we had this conversation:

“What are you doing this weekend, young lady?” Ernest asked me. “I think my friends and I are going to a movie tonight!” “A movie? At the theater?” “Yes.” “My dear, you know that theaters are the devil’s playground!” Then, leaning in close to me with earnest seriousness, he continued: “Your guardian angel will wait outside the building if you go inside.”

Shocked, horrified, and afraid, I reported this conversation to my mom that afternoon. My mother set me straight: God would never leave me—not in the theater, not anywhere. To comfort me (and prove her case), she quoted Psalm 139: Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.