“The Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore.”

Psalm 125:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

When Scripture says, “The Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore” (Psalm 125:2), it describes more than protection — it reveals posture. The Hebrew root hûg (חוּג) means to draw a circle, to encompass, to encircle. It is used in Proverbs 8:27, when Wisdom declares: “He inscribed a circle [chug] on the face of the deep.” Before creation took shape, God traced the boundary of belonging—a sacred enclosure of order drawn within the formless void.

To live within His embrace (hug) is to live within that circle. It is to awaken each morning knowing you are already surrounded by divine intention. The circle is not a wall to imprison you but a geometry of grace—a space of safety within which love becomes form and chaos finds rhythm. Even when the world shifts and shatters, your spirit remains held inside the circumference of peace.

The same root gives us חָג (chag), meaning “festival,” literally to move in a circle. Israel’s feasts were not static observances; they were circular acts of worship, movements of remembrance that returned the heart to the centre. To “abide” is to orbit the divine, to remain in the sacred rhythm of His presence.

And how fitting that chûg sounds like hug. In English, we hear the whisper of that same ancient truth—to hug is to encircle. It is to draw near, to hold within. So when you say, “I live in God’s hug,” you are echoing the oldest confession of faith: I dwell within the circle He drew before time began.

WORD FOCUS

Chûg (חוּג): “To circle, to encompass, to embrace.”

Hagios (ἅγιος): “Holy, set apart, sacred, encircled by the Divine.”

PRAYER

Lord, encompass me once more in Your divine circle. Teach me to rest within the boundaries of Your love, not striving to earn what already surrounds me. Make me to become conscious once again that I am safe within the boundary of your powerful arms. Draw me nearer to the center—to the still point where Your will and peace converge. You are the ocean of peace in the eye of the hurricane of chaos and dysfunction. Let every fear dissolve in the warmth of Your embrace until my heart remembers once again and moves in intimate rhythm with Yours. Amen.

To be “hugged by God” is not sentimentality—it is the realisation that your life is encircled by divine intention, held in the geometry of grace.

TODAY’S REFLECTION