“If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”
(Psalm 139:8-10)
God’s omnipresence is surely one of the most mysterious of His divine attributes. When we say that God is everywhere present, we do not mean that He is somehow thinly diffused throughout the cosmos like smoke or vapor. This would mean that God is only partly present at any given location in the universe at any one time. Instead, we believe that God’s nature is eternal Spirit (John 4:24), which is not extended in space like material objects are. As a non-material, maximally great, personal agent, our God not only knows what is occurring at all points throughout the cosmos, He is causally active at all points as well. Nothing escapes His notice, and nothing occurs without His permission and enablement. Though He may choose to make His presence manifest to His creatures in unique and spectacular ways, as when His glory filled the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35), or when He passed before Moses (Exodus 33:17-23), it remains true to say that in every moment and at all points, God is 100% present. From the farthest realms of the cosmos, revealed in new images from the James Webb telescope, to the tiny, subatomic quantum world, God is there. I am particularly interested in the “world” of thought, of logic and mathematics. It amazes me to think that no matter how deep our thoughts may go, no matter how high our abstractions may be, God reigns supreme in and over those realms also; He is their eternal and unchanging source and foundation. When we apply the ordinary and widely accepted rules of rational inquiry to the available evidence concerning the Bible, our proper conclusions lead us inescapably into an encounter with God. In other words, He is there waiting for us at the other end of our rational inquiry. On the other hand, God stands as the One who provides us with the necessary preconditions for rational inquiry in the first place! We can say both, “I reason, therefore God exists,” or, “God exists, therefore I reason.” In the realm of rational inquiry we are truly “hedged in” by the LORD Who is there (Job 3:23; Ezekiel 48:35). What brings me comfort in these hours leading up to my mom’s passing from this life is God’s assured presence in our private thought lives (1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalm 7:9; 44:21; Jeremiah 11:20; 17:10; Matthew 9:4; 12:25; Luke 5:22; 11:17; John 2:24-25; 6:64; Hebrews 4:12-13; Revelation 2:23). When we are too weak to speak audibly we can communicate with our maker in our thoughts. When we are too overwhelmed to form a coherent statement in our minds, much less an audible prayer with our lips, we can rest assured that the Spirit of the God of all comfort will make appropriate and efficacious intercession for us (Romans 8:26; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. Praise God for His tender mercies and abiding presence.
God bless and strengthen you today, dear saints,
pastor john
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