What are you haunted by? “Nothing,” you will say. But we are all haunted by something. Usually we are haunted by ourselves or, if we are Christians, by our spiritual experience. The psalmist says we must be haunted by God—that it is God alone we must fear.

To be haunted by the Lord is to make him the ruling consciousness of our lives. A child’s consciousness is so mother-haunted that although children are not always consciously thinking of their mother, they instinctively seek their mother whenever a crisis arises. In the same way, we are to live and move and have our being in God. The whole of our life, inside and out, is to be absolutely dominated by his presence.

If we are haunted by God, nothing else can get in—no worries, no distractions, no troubles. We see now why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying (Matthew 6:25–34). How dare we be so unbelieving when God is all around?

“His soul shall dwell at ease” (Psalm 25:13 KJV). In tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander—in the midst of all these things—if our life is hidden with Christ in God, he will keep us in peace. We rob ourselves of the marvelous revelation of this abiding companionship. “God is our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can get through this shelter.

Wisdom from Oswald

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L