God Is Omnipresent

When I was a child I had the good fortune to travel all over the United States. We moved a lot when I was a kid, so that helped, but we also traveled a lot. My dad would take me to conferences he attended, so by the time I was an adult I had visited all but four of the fifty states.

I was always fascinated with that moment when we’d drive out of one state and into another. There’s always a sign which says, “Welcome to” whatever state you happen to be entering. I’d always hold my breath when we crossed borders because I knew that, for a split second, I was halfway in one state and halfway in another.

Then when I was nine I saw something that took that feeling to a whole new level.

When I was about twelve my family took a vacation to Idaho

We were moving from Oklahoma (in the south) to Washington State (in the northwest), and we drove the whole way there, through some of the most beautiful country I’d ever seen. My mother was very pregnant with my youngest brother, so we took it slow. We drove through Death Valley, visited the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.

But my favorite of the sites we visited was the Four Corners Monument. It’s just a big plaque on the ground with two intersecting lines making a cross. But this monument actually stands at the corner of four states—Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. And the fun tourist game to play is to walk on to the monument and sprawl out the best you can over the intersecting lines, in order to be, for that brief time, in four states at once.

We humans can’t be present everywhere, but at least for that brief time we can be present in several places.

We are in the third week of our annual series entitled simply, “God Is...”, in which we look at some of the attributes of God. And in case you haven’t guessed it yet, today we’ll be looking at the fact that our God is omnipresent—meaning, he is present everywhere.

There are several places we could go to in Scripture to see this reality, but my favorite is .

God Is Omnipresent

Then when I was twenty-three, I moved to Europe with my new wife (we’d been married a year). And

A lot of people understand as being about us. We use this psalm to talk about the dignity of human life, about the injustice of murder and abortion, and that’s all valid.

But that’s not really what this psalm is about. This psalm has much more to say about God than it does about us. Or to put it another way, this psalm is mainly about God’s transcendence: it says that God is immeasurably huge, standing outside of his creation; and that we, creatures in his creation, are immeasurably small in comparison.

And David explains God’s transcendence primarily by speaking about his omnipresence.

Let’s start at v. 1:

Psalm 139.1-12:

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1  O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3  You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4  Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5  You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

Depending on who you are, these verses will either be comforting or unsettling. Some of us like the idea that God sees everything we do, that he knows us this perfectly, that he sees all of our acts and knows all of our thoughts. Others think more unsettling thoughts of God sitting in a big office in the sky with a zillion TV monitors in front of him, watching his creation on closed-circuit security cameras.

God knows everything David does, every word he says—even every thought. How can he know all this?

But that is not how God knows all that he knows about the actions of human beings. He doesn’t just see everything from afar. He sees everything we do because he is with us when we do it.

Which is exactly what David says next.

7  Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

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

9  If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10  even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12  even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

God is transcendent. He is not a part of the creation, so he is not bound by the creation. He’s not a physical being like us. He doesn’t have a body. Jesus says that “God is spirit” (), so he is not limited to a physical place and time.

He is always present, everywhere.

Now of course our minds boggle at this idea; we wonder how this could be.

The Bible’s first answer is that God isn’t a physical being like us. He doesn’t have a body. Jesus says that “God is spirit” (), so he is not limited to a physical place and time.

But he is not a spirit like other spirits; he is the Creator of all things, including other spirits. Which means that he is totally apart from and above creation.

And the simple answer is what we said before: God is transcendent.

A lot us will imagine that God’s transcendence would bring God far away from us. He is not a part of his creation, but outside of it. And in a sense that is true. But Scripture also affirms that God is not far from his creation, that he does not separate himself from it, but rather that because he is transcendent, God fills all things.

Paul says in :

[There is] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Jeremiah says in :

“Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’...”

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’...”

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT.

How?

How?

He is Spirit ().

:

23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 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.

The theological word for this is immanence. God is transcendent, but he is also immanent. He is outside of his creation, but at the same time he fills creation; he is above his creation, but he is involved in his creation.

David explains God’s involvement in the most miniscule details of creation by speaking of God’s presence and activity in his own mother’s womb (v. 13-16):

13  For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15  My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16  Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

God is everywhere—he is present in all places—and in every place he is present, he is also active. There is not an embryo which forms in a mother’s womb which God is not in the process of forming. There is not a cell in the universe which God is not acting upon.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Theologians have long understood God’s omnipresence as way more far-reaching than most of us imagine.

And David shows that this reality is much more far-reaching than we imagine. It’s not just a question of place—of God being present in his mother’s womb—but of time as well. The image David gives is that of a book, in which every moment of every day of David’s life are written long before his birth.

This image (and others like it), in addition to describing God’s care for human life even at conception, also suggests God’s omnipresence not only in space, but in time: he knows all of our days, not only because he knows everything, because he is actually there with us in all of our days. Theologians have long agreed that God is not only present everywhere, but every when. (I know I’ve said the opposite in the past, but hey, people grow and people learn.)

God is outside of space and time, and yet he is omnipresent in space and time. He is not only present everywhere, but every when. (I know I’ve said the opposite in the past, but hey, people grow and people learn.)

We experience time as a linear thing, but God is outside of time—so even while he is present with us right now, he is also present with the disciples watching Jesus multiply the loaves and fish. He is present at the fall of the Berlin Wall. He is present at the exodus from Egypt.

We experience time as a linear thing, but God is transcendent—so even while he is present with us right now, he is also present with the disciples watching Jesus multiply the loaves and fish. Right now, he is present at the fall of the Berlin Wall. He is present at the exodus from Egypt.

Think about that for a moment. Just as an example, think about all the times in which you or people you know have prayed for someone for a very long time. I grew up in church, but I didn’t become a Christian until I was twenty-one. My parents prayed for me for years, and for a very long time I was clearly lost, so they felt like their prayers simply weren’t getting anywhere.

But from God’s perspective, that isn’t true. They prayed for years, every day—and every day, when they prayed that God would save me, he responded, “Yes.” Because as they were praying, our omnipresent God was right there with me at the moment of my conversion, regenerating my heart and awakening faith in me. For my parents it was years; for God it was instantaneous.

My parents prayed for me for years, and God answered their prayers immediately. They didn’t see it until I was an adult, but there was no delay for God.

God is omnipresent, in a way which is so total, so complete, that it boggles the mind.

This helps make sense of a lot of things we see in the Bible that seem contradictory to us. Like when God says that he will not delay in coming to the aid of his people. Sometimes it feels like he’s waiting an awfully long time. But when we pray for someone, God is ACTUALLY with that person, and answers immediately, because he is present at all times.

And not only is he omnipresent in time, he is (more obviously perhaps) omnipresent in space. He is, at this moment, at the top of Mt. Everest, and in the core of planet earth. He is on the cells of the furthest star, and in the cells of our hair follicles.

When we pray for someone, God is ACTUALLY with that person, and answers immediately, because he is not only all places at once; he s all TIMES at once. For God, past, present and future are all NOW. So even if for us, we feel like through our prayers we have to send God to this person, and it will take time for him to get there, for God, he never left, and when he answers that prayer ten years later, he hears it come out of our mouths as if it was happening right then. (My parents praying for me.)

God’s omnipresence also means that he sees everything that happens, at all times. Every sickness. Every time we stub our toes. Every meal. Every cup of coffee. Every sin. Every change. Every time anyone does anything, God is right there.

So even if for us, we feel like through our prayers, we have to send God to this person, and it will take time for him to get there, in reality he’s already there, and when he answers that prayer ten years later, he hears it come out of our mouths as if it was happening right then. My parents prayed for me for years, and God answered their prayers immediately. They didn’t see it until I was an adult, but there was no delay for God.

He is everywhere, all the time. Which means that he sees everything that happens, at all times. Every sickness. Every time we stub our toes. Every meal. Every cup of coffee. Every sin. Every change. Every time anyone does anything, God is right there.

And that reality causes David to react in three specific ways.

Firstly, David simply reacts in worship (v. 17-18):

17  How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18  If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

David is amazed by the thoughts of God, which are infinitely vast because God is always totally and completely present and active, everywhere. He’s completely focused on everything happening in every place he is—from the greatest to the smallest, he is totally engaged.

And David’s simply amazed by that fact, and he’s not only amazed, he cherishes the thought. He loves the reality that God is everywhere and thinks about all he sees; he cherishes it to such an extent that when he gets up in the morning, God’s power and might and perfect will are the first things on his mind.

Secondly, David reacts in hatred toward sin (v. 19-22):

19  Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!

O men of blood, depart from me!

20  They speak against you with malicious intent;

your enemies take your name in vain.

21  Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22  I hate them with complete hatred;

I count them my enemies.

Now these verses are hard for us to take, so we need to do a little work to know what to do with them.

There’s a good deal of cultural and historical baggage here. The “enemies” in this text are the pagan nations surrounding Israel, who actively oppose the God of the Israelites. Why? Because for every culture at this time in history—including Israel’s—religion and politics were inseparable. So essentially, an enemy of your religion was an enemy of your nation.

What we need to keep in mind is that this changed when Christ came, because after Christ’s ministry, and the beginning of the church, God’s covenant with his people was opened up, and made available to all nations. (A huge portion of Paul’s letter to the Galatians deals with that reality.)

And the big shock of this new context which arose was that you could no longer say that if you were an enemy of the nation of Israel, you were by definition an enemy of God. No, the truth was actually more dire than that—as the apostle James reminds us (), whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. And we all do that. We’re born with that inclination. In our sinful nature, we are all God’s enemies. Every single human being.

And just as God chose the nation of Israel to be his people before Christ, God chooses men and women to be adopted into this people. Paul said in ,

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So how are we supposed to read verses 19-22 of (or other passages like it)?

Well, we are to understand that God’s judgment against sin is a good thing; it is a desirable thing. God’s judgment against sin is the validation of his perfect justice—he wouldn’t be a just God if he didn’t judge sin.

After that, we are to understand that if we have faith in Christ, our sin has already been judged. God took our sin and placed it on Jesus Christ, and Christ was judged in our place, for our sin. Or to put it another way, God perfectly answered David’s prayer in these verses, when he punished Christ on the cross for us.

And once we understand that, here’s the question we should ask: How should we see our sin, when we see the wrath God poured out against it when he punished Christ? If God hated our sin that much, how badly should we feel that same hatred?

God is always with us; he sees every sin, because he is with us every time we sin. And in a very real way, because he is omnipresent in time as well as space, every time we sin, at that very moment God is pouring out his wrath on Christ for that sin.

So the only natural reaction to that fact is that we hate our sin just as much, and that we work to put our sin to death in our lives.

Lastly, David reacts to God’s omnipresence by asking God to lead him in righteousness (v. 23-24):

23  Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

24  And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

God is with us at every moment, from the moment of our conception to the moment of our death. Even if he weren’t omniscient (even if he didn’t know all things), just through his powers of observation, he’d know us better than anyone. So because he knows us, because he searches our hearts and knows our thoughts, he is the only being who can perfectly show us the habits, the thoughts, the attitudes and the actions that are out of line with his character, and lead us to change.

He is omnipresent: so we should be amazed at the infinite knowledge and wisdom (v. 17-18).

He is literally with us all the time…which should make us hesitate to sin, and hate the sin we witness. (v. 19-22)

Things changed once Christ came, because now God’s covenant faithfulness wasn’t only promised to the nation of Israel, but was made available to all nations.

So we are called to it. Because our sins were crucified with Christ two thousand years ago, we are called to work to put them to death in our lives today.

So these verses invite us, who live after the coming of Christ and who have been brought into his new covenant, to look at this hatred towards the sin of God’s enemies and to point that hatred at our own sin.

We Are Limited by Space and Time

Why? Because God hates that sin. And if we ever wonder how much he hates it, we need look no further than the cross. Christ died for that sin. In fact, because he is omnipresent in space and time, at the moment of his crucifixion, God the Son was with us at the moment of every sin we commit. When we sinned yesterday, he was with us two thousand years ago, taking that sin on himself, and presenting himself before God with our sin and absorbing the wrath of God for that sin.

So we are called to it. Because our sins were crucified with Christ two thousand years ago, we are called to work to put them to death in our lives today.

He is with us all the time…so he knows us, and can show us what needs to change in us (v. 23-24).

God’s omnipresence also means that he sees everything that happens, at all times. Every sickness. Every time we stub our toes. Every meal. Every cup of coffee. Every sin. Every change. Every time anyone does anything, God is right there.

God is omnipresent—he is present in every place, at every time, everywhere.

So that’s the doctrine of God’s omnipresence: he is present in every place, at every time, everywhere.

We Are Limited by Space and Time

How badly we wish this were true for us!

You only need to take a quick look around to see it. When I moved to France sixteen years ago, Facebook was still two years away. Skype didn’t exist. Facetime didn’t exist. When you moved away from your family, you did not see them except in photos.

But now, if I want to see my parents, I just have to pull out my phone and Skype with them. When I take pictures of my kids, I don’t have to wait to go to the photo place and have them developed and print doubles and send them through the mail to my parents; I can send them photos of my kids literally seconds after I take them.

There’s a lot of good that comes from this. I can be here with my family in France, and simultaneously be almost present with my family in America.

But there’s a downside to all of this as well. When we try to be present everywhere, we’re rarely fully present anywhere.

How many times have we tried to follow the news somewhere else, or look at photos of our friends’ vacations on Instagram, while all the time our kids are at our knees trying to get our attention, and we say, “Will you please stop? I’m trying to do something.” How many times have we tried to listen to a podcast of a speech or a teaching we missed, and been so immersed in what we were listening to that we ignored the homeless man we pass on the street, or the person seated next to us on the train, to whom we could have talked about Jesus?

How many times have we found ourselves obsessing over the past—going over photos and remembering good times…all the while oblivious to whatever is happening right now, which we never see because our minds and hearts are still occupied with ten years ago?

When we try to be somewhere else, we’re never fully present where we are.

But far too often

And while this can seem like a secondary detail, it really isn’t. Because if David is right—if God has ordained every day of our lives for us, and sovereignly planned where he would bring us and when—if David is right, then that means that at any given moment, God has brought us exactly where we are for a reason.

He is transcendent (cf. God’s independence).

God is present everywhere, at every TIME.

Paul says in :

He is immanent (= involved in his creation).

:

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The importance of place in the covenant: OT promises almost always localized: I will give you THIS country, and I will live with you.

But God’s dominion isn’t limited to a place—he is everywhere, and he reigns everywhere.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

How often do we find ourselves actively wanting to be somewhere else? How often do we find ourselves dissatisfied with where we are?

That dissatisfaction actually betrays a pretty huge lack of trust in God’s wisdom and sovereignty and plan for our lives. We are not omnipresent like God is; we are necessarily limited to a specific time and a specific place. So as Christians, who believe that God doesn’t just save us for heaven, but also to walk in the good works he has prepared for us today, we shouldn’t take our time and place for granted. Wherever we find ourselves, at whatever time, we should always be asking ourselves, “Why has God brought me here? What is there about this place and this moment in particular that holds out opportunities for me to glorify God?”

When we try to be omnipresent, things go wrong. (The Facebook scandal)

The Good News

Now all of this can seem a bit heady and complicated, but think for a second of the implications of this truth of God’s omnipresence.

I know the pull to be in a million places at once feels irresistible at times

Firstly, he expects us to be where we are.

We resist the desire to be omnipresent when we remember one simple fact: because God is omnipresent, we don’t have to be.

Remember the simplicity of God—all of God’s attributes are always at work together. So at every moment, he is not only omnipresent: his sovereignty and his providence and his wisdom and his goodness are always at work, in every place, in every time.

Which simply means that he knows perfectly well where he has brought us, and why. God does nothing arbitrarily. He does nothing for no reason. So wherever we are, at whatever time, we can actually be there.

And he expects us to be. He expects us to be fully present, wherever we are—in our cities, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our families, and in our church.

Secondly, because God is omnipresent, we don’t have to be.

Often we are not present where we are because we’re worried about where we’re not. We’re thinking about things we need that we have no control over, or our loved ones who aren’t with us, and we feel fear because we can’t be there. If we could just be there, we’d feel better, because we’d feel some measure of control.

But God is omnipresent, so we don’t have to be. He’s there. He’s got his hand on the wheel.

Every time we worry about where we’re not, we are called to rest in the truth of where God is.

FOR US: The tendency to want to be somewhere besides where we are. Because we are necessarily limited to a specific place, we as Christians shouldn’t take whatever place we’re in for granted, but should always be asking ourselves, ‘Where has God brought us?’ What in particular is there about this place that holds opportunities for me to glorify God?

The desire to be in two places at once keeps us from being fully present wherever we are:

in our citiesin our neighborhoodsIn our companiesIn our families (immediate and church).

When we pray for someone, God is ACTUALLY with that person, and answers immediately, because he is not only all places at once; he s all TIMES at once. For God, past, present and future are all NOW. So even if for us, we feel like through our prayers we have to send God to this person, and it will take time for him to get there, for God, he never left, and when he answers that prayer ten years later, he hears it come out of our mouths as if it was happening right then. (My parents praying for me.)

The Call of This Truth

The insanity of the incarnation—Christ remained omniprésent, even while the man Jesus was not. Quote JW on practical atheism, at the end of the vigilance section.

God’s omnipresence:

Because he is always everywhere, he has a perfect knowledge of the pervasiveness of sin. So his wrath against that sin is always burning (v. 19-22).

- he is literally with us all the time…which should make us hesitate to sin.

He is literally with us all the time…which should make us hesitate to sin, and hate the sin we witness. (v. 19-22)

The “enemies” in this text: There is a good deal of cultural baggage here. The pagan nations surrounding David hated God. They were all cultures in which religion and politics were inseparable, so there was cultural precedent for this kind of talk.

Things changed once Christ came, because now God’s covenant faithfulness wasn’t only promised to the nation of Israel, but was made available to all nations.

And in such a context, the apostle James reminds us () that we are all naturally God’s enemies. And it was to men and women who were among God’s enemies that God gave his grace (cf. Rom. 5.8).

So these verses invite us, who live after the coming of Christ and who have been brought into his new covenant, to look at this hatred towards the sin of God’s enemies and to point that hatred at our own sin.

Why? Because God hates that sin. And if we ever wonder how much he hates it, we need look no further than the cross. Christ died for that sin. In fact, because he is omnipresent in space and time, at the moment of his crucifixion, God the Son was with us at the moment of every sin we commit. When we sinned yesterday, he was with us two thousand years ago, taking that sin on himself, and presenting himself before God with our sin and absorbing the wrath of God for that sin.

So we are called to it. Because our sins were crucified with Christ two thousand years ago, we are called to work to put them to death in our lives today.

He is with us all the time…so he knows us, and can show us what needs to change in us (v. 23-24).

To wrap up:

Firstly, he expects us to be where we are.

Remember the simplicity of God—all of God’s attributes are always at work together. So at every moment, he is not only omnipresent: his sovereignty and his providence and his wisdom and his goodness are always at work, in every place, in every time.

Which simply means that he knows perfectly well where he has brought us, and why. God does nothing arbitrarily. He does nothing for no reason. So wherever we are, at whatever time, we can actually be there.

And he expects us to be. He expects us to be fully present, wherever we are—in our cities, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our families, and in our church.

Obey God today: A lot of you are young. And because you’re young, so many of you spend so much time asking yourselves, “What is God’s will for my life? Where does he want me to go? What does he want me to do?” If you’re talking ten years from now, I have no idea, and neither do you, and the Bible won’t give you the answer to that question. It will not.

But it does give you a very specific answer to the question of what God’s will for your life is. And the answer is simple: Obey God today.

Plan for the future—absolutely. Think about the gifts God has given you, and the ways in which you can move forward in those gifts to glorify God.

But the future had better not take up all of your time, all of your energy, all of your mental spae. Because wherever you are, at whatever time, God has brought you there for a reason. And he expects you to obey him—not in ten years, or whenever you have the right number of boxes checked, but now, before any of those things happen.

For unbelievers:

Our omnipresent God has been with you since your conception. He has been with you at every moment of your life. And he was with you, bringing you to this specific place at this specific time. No matter what you may feel, it is no accident that you are here today.