We started this series called “Who is God” and we talked about God’s Omnipotence, the fact that He is all-powerful, and we looked at the implications of God begin all-powerful and how living with that knowledge could affect us in how we lived life.

Today, we are continuing this series as we discuss God’s Omnipresence, the fact that God is everywhere present all the time.

Turn with me to Psalm 139:7-12.

Slide

The book of Psalms is near the middle of the Bible. We are going to read what King David, who experienced all kinds of emotions and even loneliness and fear, records about God’s omnipresence.

Psalm 139:7-12

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Pray

Ok, let’s take a closer look at this passage and see what David is saying then I want to spend most of our time drawing out some implications of what we learn in this passage.

Understanding the passage

David here says that there is no direction that I can travel that I will be out of God’s presence. When he says God is in the heavens, he is saying that there is no height to which David can travel that God is not there. He says there is no depth I can fall to, for God will be there also.

It doesn’t matter which direction he travels or how far he goes. To rise on the wings of the dawn talks about traveling so far east, where the sun rises in the morning, but still finding God there. And it would not matter if you traveled to the opposite side of the Mediterranean sea, which is to the west from Israel’s perspective, God would be there too.

No matter where David went, God would be there. He could not even be hidden from God in the darkest of night, because God is there as well.

God is everywhere all the time, 24/7, from eternity past to eternity future, in every corner of space, He is there.

Omnipresence does not equal Pantheism

Now does the fact that God is everywhere means that He is in everything?

Does it mean God is in the trees and in the water; in the moon or in the stars?

No.

There is something that is called pantheism, which is a word that means all is God, and pantheists will worship trees, or anything really, believing that God is in those things.

Now while God is everywhere and has created everything, He is distinct from His creation.

We should not worship the things God has created thinking that God is in them, but we can worship God anywhere, as long as we worship in spirit and in truth, and know that He is present wherever we are.

Transition

Now as we begin to think about and understand the truth that God is everywhere present all the time, this should greatly help us in living life more fully.

That is because knowing this about God and truly believing it so we can live in accordance with that belief, will bring about certain effects into our life.

So what are those effects?

First,

Living in the knowledge of God’s presence will bring comfort to us

Slide

This is what David realizes in this passage.

Last modified: July 31, 2023