Bob Prichard

Topic(s): God's Sovereignty, Sin

The scriptures demonstrate God’s attributes, or qualities. He is omnipotent, or “all powerful.” He is omniscient, or “all knowing. He is also omnipresent, or “all present.” David recognized this: “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:1-2). He asked, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, 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 139:7-10). God’s omnipresence is difficult to understand, however, because human beings are limited by time and space. God does not have these limitations, however, because He is a spiritual being. Jesus said to the woman at the well in Samaria, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

Many people have tried to escape from the presence of God, but without success. Jonah is a good example. God commissioned him to preach to the wicked city of Nineveh, the bitter enemy of Israel. “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:3). No matter how far he went, Jonah could not escape God’s presence.

When they sinned, Adam and Eve tried to hide from God, but they were unsuccessful (Genesis 3). Wherever wickedness is contemplated or practiced, the omnipresent God is there, disapproving. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). God is not in those wicked places because He likes sin. He abhors sin, and it is an abomination in His sight. God is there because of His transcendent nature: “the eyes of the LORD are in every place.” This should encourage each of us to resist sin and temptation, because we cannot hide things from God, no matter how much we may want to.

God’s omnipresence is a great blessing to us. Paul told the men of Athens, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; . . . And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth . . . That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:24-28a). Our attitude to God’s omnipresence should be the same as David’s: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).