Far Side of the Moon

 

It's hard for me to get a good picture of the moon with my simple camera, but it doesn't stop me from trying.  The moon was so pretty that night, with a nice haze around it.  Although it didn't turn out particularly good, at least it's still recognizable as the moon.

Not long ago, I was thinking about a verse in Psalm and I misquoted it in my mind.  Have you ever done that?  When I looked up the verse and saw the mistake, I was kind of disappointed, because I liked it the way I'd misquoted it.  Then, I realized that both the correct quote and the misquote are equally true, so that made me happy. 

The verse I'd gotten muddled is found in Psalm 139:9-10 and I used it in a recent blog - it's "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." 

Before I wrote that blog is when I'd been thinking of the verse in different terms.  Here's what I'd been thinking:  "If I settle on the far side of the moon, even there You will be with me."  The truth is still in it, but of course, it's not accurate scripture.  Can you imagine if such a verse had actually been written by David in the Psalms way back over 3,000 years ago?  At such a time in history, it would have been unthinkable that man would ever consider being on the far side of the moon and readers might have been incredulous -- yet, man has indeed been on the far side of the moon and God was indeed with him there.

The wonder and great comfort of this is that God is indeed with us everywhere -- even if we did make a trip to the far side of the moon.

In Hebrews 13:5, Paul writes, "...God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"  The comfort of that truth is incalculable.  Without it, we would live in a fearful and insecure place in this big, bad world, but with that truth as firm gospel, we can know that wherever we are and whatever situation we find ourselves, He -- the great, almighty God of all things -- is right there within and around us -- always. 

The next time you settle on the far side of the sea, or even the far side of the moon (or even the far side of your neighborhood), you may know that your loving Father is right there by your side -- holding you fast and ready to guide you.