The God of Heaven and Hell

“If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.” Psalm 139:8

Make my bed – Four in thirty nine.  Keep that in mind when you think of the number of times this word is used in the Old Testament.  Yasa’ occurs only four times in thirty-nine books.  Each time tells us something important.  Esther 4:3 describes the people who lay down on sackcloth and ashes, humbling themselves on a bed of mourning.  Isaiah 58:5 is God’s complaint that the people no longer take seriously the humility needed when they make a bed of sackcloth and ashes.  Isaiah 14:11 describes the bed made in Sheol, a bed of maggots and worms.  And then there is this verse from David.  Four occurrences.  Each one a powerful image of an emotional trauma.   “Making my bed” is the imagery of emotional hell.

Have you ever made your bed in hell?  I’m sure we would all vote for the first part of this verse.  There’s nothing better than ascending to heaven and finding a smiling God.  But what about the second part?  What about those times when I dug my own grave, when the maggots and worms of the pit covered me, when my soul was racked with hideous despair?  David worshipped the God of emotions, the God who knows us in all our feelings.  We are not so quick to agree with David when it comes to the dark side.  Oh, we agree theologically.  Yes, God is not absent in the hellholes of life.  But that isn’t what David is saying.  He is not proposing a doctrine of omnipresence.  He’s saying that when he makes his own life into a bed from hell, God is right there with him.  David’s God does not stand aloof, waiting for David to get back with the program, to trek up the aisle and fall to his knees in repentance, to say forty “Hail Mary’s” or make confession.  David’s God is covered with maggots and worms too because David’s God never leaves us, even when we can’t stand the stink of our own lives.

So often we think of the sanctified and purified Jesus.  We confuse perfection with sinlessness.  We start to imagine that if we aren’t perfect, the sinless Jesus can’t embrace us, especially after we have crawled to Him the first time.  We think Jesus sits on the throne, shaking His head in disappointment because we aren’t strong enough to stay out of the beds in hell.  Can I tell you a secret?  Jesus knows what it’s like to be in the grave.  He knows what the worms and maggots want to do to you.  He went to hell for you and me.  He made his bed there so that you and I would never have to fear being alone anywhere we find ourselves.

If you serve a God who is Greek, you will be uncomfortable with the God who feels.  You will have a hard time connecting with God when you send yourself to the pit.  That’s why God suggested that David use this unusual word.  God knows about decomposing better than you do.  His Son got there ahead of you and came back to lift you out.