The Omnipresent God
THE OMNIPRESENT GOD
7 Where can I go from Thy Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Thy presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Thy hand will lead me,
And Thy right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12 Even the darkness is not dark to Thee,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to Thee. (Psalms 139:7-12).
We have already seen the first portion of this Psalm of David that looks at the omniscience of God. He has shown that God knows all things. Now David moves to a new subject. It is the subject of the omnipresence of God. David begins with a question. It is really a rhetorical question. It is a question with an obvious answer because it obviously has no answer: Where can I go from Thy Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Thy presence? (Psalms 139:7).
It is not that David is actually seeking to escape God's presence. He asks these two questions to drive home a point. He wants to point out the truth that it is impossible to escape the presence of God. No matter where you go or what happens to you, God is still there.
8 If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Thy hand will lead me,
And Thy right hand will lay hold of me. (Psalms 139:8-10).
I am reminded of the prophet Jonah. Here is a man who is told by God to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. Jonah is commissioned to take the message of God to the Assyrian people.
Jonah doesn't want to go. It isn't that he doesn't believe; it is that he has absolutely no use for the Assyrian people. Jonah is a bigot. He decides to go as far from the Assyrians as possible. He wants nothing to do with the Assyrians. He knows that there is one place where no Assyrian has ever gone. No Assyrian ever traveled by water. They had no navy. They were a mountain people. So what does Jonah do? He gets on a boat headed in the opposite direction. In so doing, he escapes the presence of the Assyrians; but he cannot escape the presence of God.
Imagine the scene! The boat is well on its way and Jonah has gone below decks to catch up on his sleep. Dark clouds appear on the horizon and soon spread over the entire sky. The wind begins to blow and the waves soon reach monstrous proportions. The ship is in danger of sinking. The sailors frantically seek to lighten the ship. When that does not work, they come down to where Jonah is sleeping and awaken him. Perhaps if he prays to his God, the storm will abate.
Jonah hears and Jonah knows why the storm has come. He knows that it is directed against his own willful disobedience. He instructs the sailors to throw him overboard. At their wits end and having tried every possible alternative, the sailors take Jonah that throw him into the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.
If this were not enough, Jonah is swallowed by a great fish. You would think that this would be the end of the story. But even in the depths of the sea and in the belly of a fish, Jonah has not escaped the presence of God. You cannot escape the presence of God. This can be a great comfort to the believer in the area of prayer.
God is always there when you pray. Imagine what it would be like if this were not so. You might start to pray and suddenly a voice would come down from heaven saying, “Good afternoon, this is the Lord. I'm so glad you called. I'm away from my desk, but if you will just leave your name and number I will get back with you...”
God doesn't use mail-messaging. He doesn't use a pager. He isn't even hard of hearing. He is always available. He is not just the God who is there -- He is also the God who is here. The truth of God's omnipresence is also a warning to those who would be disobedient to His commands. The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Watching the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3). Have you ever been in a situation where you thought that it did not matter what you did because no one was looking? There are no secret things. God is there. He is watching the good that you do and He is also watching the bad that you do. That should be a warning to you when you are tempted to sin. At the same time, the omnipresence of God is a comfort. It is at the same time both a warning and a comfort. This is seen in the following chart: The Omnipresence of God is a Warning|The Omnipresence of God is a Comfort|
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:12-13).|Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6).|