A HEATHEN philosopher once asked, “Where is God?” A Christian answered, “Let me first ask you, Where is He not?” This latter question the Psalmist set himself to answer, only to acknowledge his failure. It is impossible to find a place where God is not, and therefore impossible to escape from His presence. In the course of this 139th Psalm not only the Omnipresence, but the Omniscience and the Omnipotence of God are extolled. To all of these we assent, but often without working out their implications. We believe God is Omniscient, but often imagine ourselves to be forgotten; we believe Him to be Omnipresent, but frequently forget He marks all we do; we believe Him to be Omnipotent, but fancy ourselves out of reach of His power. It is good sometimes to sit down and see what manner of men we ought to be, since we have such a God.
Consider, then His Omnipresence. There was a Hebrew prophet who forgot this, and imagined he could elude God. If he had only read this Psalm before starting he would never have been fool enough to pay his fare. Long before he reached his destination he found himself more absolutely and perceptibly in the presence of the God from Whom he fled. Perhaps, then, in the belly of the fish, our text recurred to him.
David asked this question, not because he wanted to flee from God, but in order to set forth the impossibility of doing so. He tells us first that God is both above and below the earth. Could he possibly ascend into heaven, even the highest heaven, there he would find Him; or descend into Sheol, the place of departed spirits, believed to be in the lowest parts of the earth, there, too, He is. Next he turns from utmost east to utmost west. The east he describes as the wings of the morning, thinking of the clouds at sunrise. In Palestine, clouds only occur at sunrise, for the rest of the day the sky is cloudless, except during the short periods of the latter and early rains. These morning clouds are of a brilliant silvery white, though often dyed with the delicate opal tints of dawn, and are indescribably beautiful. “By about seven o’clock the heat has dissipated these fleecy clouds, and to the vivid Eastern imagination, morn has folded her outstretched wings.” (James Neil). The west he describes as the uttermost parts of the sea, the Mediterranean on the west of Palestine. If he travels either east or west, still God is there to lead, to guide and to uphold. Finally, he declares that darkness is no screen; men may hide themselves under its cover because their deeds are evil, human pursuers may be baffled as were the Egyptians, who sought to escaping Israelites by the waters of the Red Sea, but to God the deepest gloom is as radiant as the brightest sunshine. Thus in sheerest poetry does the Psalmist emphasize the universal presence of God.
It is an arresting thought that wherever we may be God is. Too many of us discover this fact too late, and say with Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not.” But we ought to have known; we did know and forgot. If only we had remembered, how differently we would have behaved. Then let us never forget again. The great botanist, Linnaeus, had written over his study door, Numen adest Numen vivite innocui. “Live innocently, Deity is present.” There is a mighty power to control us in the thought. If the presence of a good man or woman, of someone we love or of a little child often restrains, so that, though tempted sorely we cannot yield, how much more the realized Presence of God? As we go about our daily life let us halt often and say, “God is now here.” Say it in every time of temptation, sometimes adding this other word, “Thou hast set our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance,” then our experience may be that of Milton, who as a young man traveled much abroad and years afterward wrote, “I again take God to witness that in all places where so many things are considered lawful, I lived sound and untouched from profligacy and vice, having this thought perpetually with me, that though I might escape the eyes of men, I certainly could not the eyes of God.”
It is an encouraging thought. Christian life is full of difficulties, but the realized Presence of the Lord, in fulfilment of His promise, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age,” helps through. So Paul found it again and again; in prison at Jerusalem, on the stormy voyage to Rome and at the end when brought before Nero, he testified that though none were with him, all forsook him, nevertheless the Lord stood with him. It is quite evident that David found encouragement and not terror in the thought of the universal presence of God, for he sang, “Thy Hand shall lead and Thy right Hand hold me.” How good to feel that wherever our path may lead I od will be there to guide and to bless.
“I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.”
It is also a satisfying thought. Since God is everywhere, we cannot be where He is not; there is no time nor place where we cannot enjoy communion with Him. When we really love a person and are quite sure of their response to our love, then we want always to be with them; separation is pain, their presence is satisfaction. We may be busy, but just to know they are near satisfies. It is in the fullest sense thus with God. We feel we could not be happy away from Him, and we never are. We may be busy, but His Presence is with us, and that is rest.
Not ours yet to climb to heaven, or to make our bed in Sheol, not ours to take the wings of the morning, or to dwell in the lattermost parts of the sea; we are chained here, but God is now here, and we have no do sire to flee from His Presence, but are glad to realize it, to restrain us, to encourage us, to give us at all times, and in all places, the delights of communion with God.
Beyond, beyond that boundless sea,
Above that dome of sky,
Further than thought itself can flee,
Thy dwelling is on high;
Yet, dear the awful thought to roe,
That Thou, my God, art nigh.
O! not in circling depth, or height,
But in the contrite breast,
Present to faith, though veiled from sight,
There does His Spirit rest.
O! come. Thou Presence Infinite,
And make Thy creature blest.
H.S. (By permission.)