Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 2
The speaker says his anxiety wasn’t mainly about realistic concerns but a persistent, unrealistic dread that “God was stalking me…ready to pounce.” What picture of God would have to be operating in a person’s heart for Psalm 139 (“If I ascend into heaven, thou art there…”) to feel threatening instead of comforting?
Another way to ask: What kind of view of God would make Psalm 139 feel scary instead of comforting? What would someone have to believe about God’s closeness for it to feel like He’s “ready to pounce”?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
For Psalm 139 to feel threatening, a person would have to picture God’s presence as surveillance and hostility rather than guidance and care. In the speaker’s heart, God’s nearness didn’t mean safety; it meant being trapped with no “room for myself.”
- He identifies the core issue: “I was afraid of God,” even though he says, “I cared about God…loved God.”
- He describes his picture of God: “God was stalking me…always there, just ready to pounce.”
- He says he believed God “didn’t have to give me any room for myself.”
- Psalm 139 was “a bad verse for me,” though it should be comforting: “even there will your hand guide me and uphold me.”
- His mind treated God’s omnipresence as oppressive, not as “guide” and “uphold.”
- Later, healing came when he could receive the truth that “God loves me,” implying the earlier picture lacked love.