Morning Light – September 19th, 2016: God is Everywhere Present in Your Life

Morning Light – September 19th, 2016
Today: [Psalm 139] God is Everywhere Present in Your Life. In our study today we consider the lofty reality of God being everywhere present. This not only applies to God being everywhere at once, He is also every WHEN at once, experiencing OUR past, present and future in one instance of His divine cognitive capability. In all of this we observe through David’s psalm we also discover the we ourselves existed in the distant past, even before the foundation of the world as objects of God’s love and care and favor.
[Psa 139:1-24 KJV] 1 [[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]] O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known [me]. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted [with] all my ways. 4 For [there is] not a word in my tongue, [but], lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 [Such] knowledge [is] too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot [attain] unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou [art] there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [art there].
Psalm 139 is attributed in verse 1 to David and is an affirmation of the universal presence of God. In theology there are held to be three great attributes of God. They are:
God is omnipotent
God is omniscient
God is omnipresent
These mean that God is all powerful, all knowing and everywhere present. This psalm focuses upon the fact that there is nowhere in creation that God is not present. This psalm salutes and declares and celebrates the universality of God. One writer explains God’s omnipresence in this way:
“It means that all of God is everywhere at once. As the indivisible Being, God does not have one part here and another part there, for He has no parts. God is present to but not part of creation. God is everywhere, but He is not anything. He is at every point in space, but He is not spacial. He is at every point in space, but He is not of any point in space. God is ‘in’ or present to the whole universe the way a mind is in its brain, or the manner in which beauty is present in a work of art, or that thought is in a sentence. In each case, the one is present to and penetrates the whole without a part of it being in the part of another.”
Clement of Rome – an early church father made the following statement about the omnipresence of God:
“God is not in darkness or in place, but He is above both space and time, and qualities of objects. For that reason, neither is He at any time in a particular part—either as containing it or as being contained, either by limitation or section…. Though heaven is called His throne, not even there is He contained.”
Lastly St. Augustine – held to be the architect of modern Christianity as we know it observed:
“The truth is that all these actions and energies belong to the one true God, who is really a God, who is wholly present everywhere, is confined by no frontiers and bound by no hindrances, is indivisible and immutable, and though His nature has no need of either heaven or of earth, He fills them both with His presence and His power.”
You can see that these great minds throughout the centuries grappled with the understanding of the nature of God that David expresses so poetically in the psalm we address in this study. We can also see the mercy of God here in that no matter where we may find ourselves in life, in moral condition, or personal suffering God never distances Himself from us. This is very different than the way God is portrayed in popular literature throughout the ages. In classical Greek culture the gods were aloof from men living in a mountain shrouded in darkness and clouds. The philosophers hold that God – (if there be a god, the contend) is fully transcendent and completely unavailable or even aware of what is happening around himself or among men. To the philosopher God is simply the prime mover of the universe, powerful, primal but not self-aware, and certainly not cognizant of mankind in anyway. David refutes this for us from the authority of holy writ, assuring us of the presence of God and the love of God for His people.
9 [If] I take the wings of the morning, [and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light [are] both alike [to thee]. 13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvellous [are] thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
In verses 9-15 we see that not only is God everywhere present – He is also (the psalmist contends) absolutely engaged in every affair of our lives. He is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient and in fact extends those qualities into our own lives through our proximity to Him. Verse 11 states that though you find yourself in darkness, because God is with you all will be light. The apostle Paul made the following declaration:
[Phl 4:11 KJV] 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, [therewith] to be content.
Another translation puts it this way: “….I have learned in whatever circumstance I find myself to be independent of circumstances…”
This is not something we attain within ourselves, neither are we encouraging those who struggle to adopt some esoteric mentality by which they divorce themselves from reality. God is an ever present, visceral power infusing you with the creative energy of the universe to release by your faith in the midst of whatever situation you find yourself in. Thus the promise of God is by nature of the immediacy of His presence in your life that your life be a little bit of heaven to go to heaven in. It is impossible for God to be God and be with you and not impart His attributes and favor and blessing to your life.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all [my members] were written, [which] in continuance were fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 [If] I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20 For they speak against thee wickedly, [and] thine enemies take [thy name] in vain. 21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Verse 18 expresses the depth of God’s thoughts toward you. His thoughts toward you are more in number than the sands of the sea. How many grains of sand are in the sea? Scientists making the calculation postulate that there are seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains of sand around the world, tallying all the sources of sand, desert and beaches throughout the earth. That tells us that God’s thoughts toward us are not vestigial or marginal in anyway. His thoughts not only encompass our path in this life (for all our days are written in His book) but also reaching into the distant past. Paul declared by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
[Eph 1:4 KJV] 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
If we existed before the foundation of the world how is it that we do not remember? Because we were out of our mind. Gen. 2:7 states that God breathed into man and he became a living soul. Memory is a function of mind which is a part of the soul of man. The soul of man did not exist until God put His breath into the physical body of Adam. However your spirit existed and was created long before the physical body came into being. What were you doing all that time? For one thing you were a part of a choir:
[Job 38:4, 7 KJV] 4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. … 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
How many eons did you exist before you were fearfully and wonderfully wrought in your mother’s belly? Only eternity will tell. To God – He is not only everywhere present, He is every WHEN present. Einstein’s theory of relativity makes a connection between spacial, three dimensional existence and time itself. Therefore God we can concluded exists and experiences every place, and every time (past, present and future) in one great NOW reality. This defies comprehension when you further conclude in the light of God’s infinite capacity to focus His heart and mind on an infinite number of people without diminishing His attentiveness in the slightest as He loves with an equally undiminished love.