101. Please explain Psalm 139:8 : “If I ascend up into heaven Thou are there; if I make my bed...

Please explain Psalms 139:8 : “If I ascend up into heaven Thou are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there!” I cannot conceive of God’s presence in hell. The word rendered “hell” in this passage does not mean hell in the sense of the abode of the lost. It means the place where all the dead were before our Lord’s ascension. (It is rendered in the Revised Version—“Sheol.” This is not a translation; it is the Hebrew word used.) Both the righteous to that portion of Sheol known as paradise, and the unrighteous to the place of suffering. But if God is everywhere, He must in some sense be present even in hell, but He certainly does not manifest His presence there as He does in heaven, or even as He does on earth.