The Everywhere God

The Everywhere God

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Psalm 139:7

IN WORD The omnipresence of God is not a foreign concept to us. We’re quite familiar with the idea that He is everywhere at all times. A more relevant issue for us involves the practicality of that notion. God’s presence needs to be more than an intellectual understanding. Deep down, we want to ask the vital question: So what?

There are times in our lives when God’s presence is an uncomfortable reality—those independent times when we don’t necessarily want Him to be watching us. But most of the time, we need to know He’s there. We struggle with anxiety, fear, uncertainty, loneliness, and discouragement. When we do, we don’t only want to know that He is observing; we also want to know that He is intensely involved.

God’s presence is welcome news to us fallen creatures. It wouldn’t be if He were first and foremost a God of judgment, but He is not; His mercy takes precedence over His judgment (James 2:13). Grace is His preference. Knowing that, we can rest in the presence of God. He has demonstrated that He is in His element anywhere in our world other than in the company of sin (for which He has a radical remedy). A dazzling throne is not too glorious, a smelly manger not too humble, and a criminal’s cross not too shameful. Every corner of His universe is “room temperature” for Him.

IN DEED Does that reality mean anything to you? It won’t, as long as God’s presence is a theological issue of “omnipresence.” But this psalm is not talking about omnipresence; it’s talking about companionship. This is no cold stare of watchfulness; it is for the believer a warm fellowship with the divine Friend. Our Creator—the One who molded us, breathed life into us, and painfully redeemed us—is, at this moment, wherever you are. Are you in a strange, lonely place—physically, emotionally, spiritually, or in any other way? A dungeon of the soul? An exile of the heart? A steep, long path? He is right there, really there, and remarkably sympathetic.

You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we think.

—BROTHER LAWRENCE