This meditation ts Jacob ́s experience surprisingly well. He could have written and sung this poem as he poured oil over the improvised altar at Bethel. And yet it belongs to another mil- lennium! Which implies that as centuries pass, God remains the same as does the manner in which humans relate to God.
In his youthful years David, the attributed psalmist, also knew the experience of displacement and uncertainty. Before he wore the crown, he was an outlaw in his own nation. Surely as he matured he became aware of God ́s intimate knowledge of his life: “You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.”
This prayer asks for nothing; the psalmist simply considers the intimacy of relationship with God—an intimacy that leads to amazing knowledge of the psalmist. The psalm manifests astounding theological discernment beginning with verse 7. We nd it dif cult to understand such an unquali ed presence. The psalmist acknowledges that God hems him in “behind and before.” He can go nowhere that God is not—God surrounds him. Even the darkness is not dark to God. He with Jacob can af rm, “Surely the LOrD is in this place!”
Even though we will never fully understand God, we are invited to acquaint ourselves with the divine. Friendship requires intentional cultivation. In our desire to hide on the periphery, wander in the fringes, escape to the sea, we miss the depth of the experience with the Eternal, a God who never gives up the pursuit of relationship. Such intimate relationship takes time and space.