Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.           
⁹ If I take up the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
¹⁰ Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.

Related Posts

Psalm 139 – Introduction

Psalm 139 – Part 2: God’s Omniscience

In looking at the attributes of God, one cannot elevate one over another for they are all inherent to who God is.  That said, it is the Omnipresence of God that really make our journey possible.  We know intellectually that God is infinite and that God is everywhere, but I would guess that most of us seldom consider how this impacts our faith.  There are two quite noteworthy items that we should know about the omnipresence of God.  The first is that the omnipresence of God is not merely speaking of space, but both time and space, in addition to transcending time and space.  The second noteworthy item is that the omnipresence of God is to be a source of comfort rather than dread.  When we found saving faith, our relationship with God changed from enemies of God (Romans 5:10) to children of God (John 1:12).  God is no longer our judge (John 3:18), but our Abba or Daddy (Romans 8:14-17), in which we have been adopted into the Kingdom of God by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.  Our new position in the family of God is one in which we enter into communion with God.

When we invite people into a relationship with God, we likely have not considered that it would not be possible if God were not omnipresent.  By simply comparing to human relationships, we recognize that we cannot be with multiple people at once if those people are in different locations.  Pretty basic, right!  Of course, but that’s the point!  Communion with God is possible because God is everywhere in space and time.  That means that if I am talking to Him in Chicago, my friends and family can also be praying to Him at the same time in California, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, London, etc.   Without the omnipresence of God, we would not be able to pray with confidence that He has heard us or even has the ability to answer our prayers.  Imagine if praying to God was tantamount to calling the DMV or the IRS or any major corporate call center that uses technology in place of people.  What if calling God was like calling the Help Desk in the IT department at your company?  Rather than asking someone if they prayed today, you might ask them if they opened a support ticket with the heavenly hotline and where they are in the queue?  The recording might say something like, “there are 2.4 billion people ahead of you and your estimated wait time is three and a half years!”  Seems silly right!  Of course it does, but that is probably not to far off from what the reality could be if God were not omnipresent.

This shines a light on an important point.  As stated earlier, communion with God is only possible because our infinite, holy God is not confined by time or space, so He is able to journey with each one of us.  Whether we are sitting with Him (Psalm 46:10), on a journey (Psalm 121:8), or sleeping (Psalm 127:2), God is with us.  Without the omnipresence of God, the sovereignty of God would be non-existent and we would truly be on our own, leaving God hopeful for us, but powerless.  Thankfully, sovereignty does not rest with man, but with God, therefore we can have hope in the God who is faithful and good (Psalm 118:1).

As we begin in verse 7, the Psalmist notes that God is Spirit just as Jesus did in John 4:24.  This is important because God as Spirit is not bound to the physical finitude.  The rhetorical question of “where can I go” is a statement about the fact that God is everywhere.  Next we see that the presence of God transcends time and space in verse 8.  The Psalmist notes that whether he were to go to heaven or to hell, two places that are outside of our third dimension of time and space, God is there.  Since God created time and space, it follows that God would not be bound by time or space, however we tend to think of God as up in heaven looking down on us, when in reality He is with us wherever we are.  In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), Jesus tells us to go to all the nations, then He tells us that He is always with us.  This is not only a testament to the deity of Jesus, but also a source of comfort.  In verse 10, we see that God has us by the hand, which is an incredible source of comfort as we seek guidance in taking steps in life.  God uses this picture in other scriptures such as Psalm 37:23-24 and Isaiah 41:10-13.  It is a picture of a Parent / child relationship in which we are not only not alone on the journey, but we are traveling with someone who knows what is best.  We as people are bound by time and can only move at the pace of time, but God is already at our destination, both our physical destination we may be heading today as well as our future destinations that we will eventually reach over time.  Once again we can have the peace of God because of the attributes of God, knowing He is good, He is love, He is all powerful, all present and all knowing, which are all attributes that make a Christian faith possible.

Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.  Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!