Years ago I heard a story of a widow who had two young sons (Billy and Bobby) that she had a hard time controlling. No matter how many times she would spank them when they did wrong, they were constantly getting into trouble both at school and at home. As time went on, she began to be more and more concerned for their future, fearing that if they kept going, they may wind up running with neighborhood gangs and/or in prison. She finally became so concerned that she talked to her pastor to see if there was anything he could do or any advice he could give to help with the situation and they agreed that maybe if he could give them a stern talking to that this might help. So they arranged for the boys to meet with the pastor the next day after school.
Upon arriving, thinking it would be a good idea, the pastor decided to speak with them one at a time and told Bobby to wait outside while he counselled Billy. Now the pastor was quite an imposing figure and after sitting the young child down, he just stared at him for a couple of minutes. Finally breaking the silence, he said to him, “Billy, where is God?” The young child, obviously nervous, just sat there wide-eyed. So the pastor asked him again, “Billy, where is God?” Once again, no reply. Finally, becoming somewhat frustrated, the pastor said to him in a strong, stern voice, “Billy, I’m not going to ask you again, where is God? Answer me.” With that Billy, in a panic, jumped up and ran out of the room, grabbed Bobby by the hand and said, “Let’s get out of here Bobby. Someone has taken God, and they’re trying to pin it on us.”
While that is certainly a funny story, it does raise an interesting question, “Where is God?” “Well,” you might answer, as most Christians would, “God is everywhere.” After all, one of His attributes is that He is Omnipresent, which means He is everywhere, right? Now, while it is true that we conceive of God as being everywhere, this is not a theologically adequate way to define the term. You see, omnipresence is one of God’s attributes, meaning it is part of what makes God who He is. And to say that he is everywhere means there must be a ‘where’ for Him to be. Because God is ‘immutable’ (another attribute that means “He never changes”), it means he was omnipresent before a ‘where’ ever existed. Genesis 1:1 says that, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” So there was a time when neither heaven nor earth existed and there was only God.
So, just to say that God is everywhere does not adequately define His omnipresence. To help us gain a better understanding of what this means, let’s consider a couple of passages. First, Psalm 139:7-10 reads, “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 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.” And Jeremiah 23:23-24 says, “Am I a God at hand,” saith the LORD, “and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?” saith the LORD. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” saith the LORD.
Now while the idea that God must be everywhere because He knows everything is a valid concept, according to Dr. Bingham, the more correct way of defining God’s attribute of omnipresence is that “He is able to accomplish His will at any place there is. So there is not a place on the globe where God is not able to accomplish His will for us, whatever that might be.”
You see, God’s Omnipresence is like a sub-category of His ‘Almightiness.’ We are the ones that must have a space to exist in, not God. His presence is unlimited and because this is the case, there is never a place that we can go that is beyond His notice or His reach. Like Jonah in the belly of the great fish, all are incapable of escaping God’s sight as to where we are or what we are doing and are therefore incapable of finding any place where God is not able to judge us or to bless us, a truth we would all do well to remember.
For God’s glory and His alone,
Pastor Terry.