God is Omnipresent Review Questions

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

   Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

   If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

   and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

   and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,

   and the light about me be night,“

even the darkness is not dark to you;

   the night is bright as the day,

   for darkness is as light with you.

(Psalm 139:7-12)

 

 

In this passage, David meditates on the fact that it is impossible to be away from God’s presence. God is in heaven. God is in Sheol (the grave). God is in the uttermost parts of the sea. There is nowhere we can go to escape from His presence. Wherever we go, we can say, “God is here.” Jonah discovered this the hard way in his futile attempt to flee from God’s presence by boat. But for David, this was a great comfort, for God is always there to lead him and to hold him. He declares in Psalm 23:4, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” For others this truth is terrifying. Jeremiah asks the question:

 

 

Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:24)

 

 

We cannot hide our sin from God. He is present everywhere and therefore sees everything. Jeremiah speaks these words in the context of announcing judgment against false prophets (see Jeremiah 23:13-20), and from God’s judgment there is no escape.

 

 

I saw the LORD standing beside the altar, and he said: "Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. "If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." (Amos 9:1-4)

 

 

The attempt to flee from God is futile. When God comes in judgment, it is impossible to escape. You cannot run from Him. You can only run to Him and plead for His mercy.

 

 

 

The Uncontainable God

 

 

These passages teach us about God’s relation to space. God relates to space differently than we do.  We are limited by space. We can only be in one place at one time. This is not so with God.  He created space and is therefore separate from it. He cannot be contained. Solomon affirmed this in his prayer of dedication for the newly constructed temple.

 

 

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! (1 Kings 8:27)

 

 

When we think of God’s presence, we ought not to think about God in spatial terms (i.e. size and shape).  We are in the presence of God. We are not simply in the presence of part of God (i.e. His hand, metaphorically speaking).  If we travelled from here to another part of the universe, we wouldn’t move from the presence of one part of God to the presence of another part of God.  Rather, God is present everywhere in all of His being.

 

 

Saying God is present everywhere is not the same as saying that God is everything.  He is separate from everything in which He is present.  When you put a sponge in water, the water fills every part of the sponge, but it is still separate from the sponge.  The water is not the sponge, and the sponge is not the water, even though the water is present everywhere in the sponge.  This is the same with God.

 

 

 

Leaving and Entering God’s Presence

 

 

Certain passages in the Bible seem to present a dilemma to the idea that God is present everywhere. Consider the following:

 

 

Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)

 

 

If God is present everywhere with all of His being, how can Cain leave His presence? In fact, throughout the Bible we read about God being present in a particular place (e.g. heaven), or going somewhere, or people coming into or leaving the presence of God.  How are we supposed to understand such texts when we affirm God’s omnipresence?  How can somebody leave the presence of the God who is present everywhere?

 

 

The answer is that God manifests his presence differently at different times and in different places.

 

 

 

God’s Presence to Bless

 

 

This is the most common way in which the Bible speaks about the presence of God. We shouldn’t think that these passages demonstrate God is only present there and not elsewhere, “but rather that here he especially [makes] His presence known and here He especially [manifests] His character and [brings] blessing to His people.”(W. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 176)

 

 

One of the young men answered, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him." (1 Samuel 16:18)

 

 

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. (Psalm 51:11)

 

 

but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)

 

 

We see from Isaiah 59:2 that our sin separates us from God’s presence to bless.  David recognises this reality and so in Psalm 51, he repents and pleads that he would not be cast away from God’s presence. Is there any sin in your life that is currently separating you from the presence of God?

 

 

At the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses hands over the leadership of Israel to Joshua. It is Joshua’s task to lead Israel into the Promised Land.

 

 

Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)

 

 

Moses seeks to encourage Joshua by promising God’s presence. This should fill Joshua with strength and courage and drive out fear.  God is present to bless and guarantees success. Following Moses’ death, God encourages Joshua with the same promise of His presence to bless.

 

 

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. (Joshua 1:5-6)

 

 

It is only when Israel sins against God and He removes His presence from them that they are defeated.

 

 

Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. (Joshua 7:11-12)

 

 

Joshua isn’t alone in receiving the promise of God’s presence. All Christians have this promise.

 

 

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6)

 

 

 

God’s Presence to Judge

 

 

The Bible also speaks about God manifesting His presence in judgment.

 

 

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence - as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil - to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! (Isaiah 64:1-2)

 

 

Some people speak of hell as being the absence of God. This is slightly misleading. It would be better to think of hell as being “a negative relationship to God, an experience not of His absence so much as of His presence in wrath and displeasure.”(J.I. Packer, Concise Theology, 262)

 

 

 

Living Coram Deo

 

 

Coram Deo is a Latin phrase meaning “before the face of God.”  This does not simply mean we are always in God’s presence.  Everyone is always in the presence of God, but most are not living Coram Deo.  Coram Deo speaks about living with a continual conscious awareness of the presence of God.  It means living every moment ‘with’ God, praying to Him continually and seeking to please Him in whatever we do. Let us seek to live coram Deo.

 

 

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

 

 

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)