Outside of Psalm 23, Psalm 139 is probably the best-known of all the psalms. We hear the pro-life movement quote verses 13-16, and with good reason. We often use the last two verses as a confession. Songwriters have written songs based on this psalm, and pastors have wrapped entire sermon series around it. Simply put: we’ve seen it and read it plenty of times before.
One of the best bits of advice about reading God’s Word is one that one of my pastors at church has given from the stage many times: don’t let familiarity with a passage of scripture rob you of its truth and power. With that in mind, let’s look at the first 12 verses of Psalm 139:
O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
The theological term for the notion that God is everywhere is omnipresence. GotQuestions describes omnipresence this way: “to say that God is omnipresent is to say that God is present everywhere,” adding, “Although God is not totally immersed in the fabric of creation (pantheism), He is present everywhere at all times.”
Related: Sunday Thoughts: The Word and the Word
Other scriptures describe God’s omnipresence:
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Proverbs 15:3 (ESV)
“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:23-24 (ESV)
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:18-20 (ESV)
But God’s omnipresence isn’t a creepy, Big Brother sort of presence. Instead, by existing everywhere in time and space, He’s there for us and on the side of His people:
And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV)
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.
Psalm 147:5-6 (ESV)
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Isaiah 43:2-3 (ESV)
And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5 (ESV)
John M. Frame writes at The Gospel Coalition:
God’s omnipresence is not just a theoretical conclusion. It is a precious truth of redemption. Although we have sinned and deserve God’s judgment, God comes to his faithful people and declares to them “I will be with you.” This means that God is here, wherever we are, but also that God is on our side. He is with us, not to destroy us, but to forgive and to save us from sin. So this “with you,” this redeeming divine presence, is found often in Scripture as his gracious promise.
There’s another word that I love that describes this aspect of God’s nature: ubiquitous. God is everywhere at every point in time. I think we tend to lose sight of that part of who He is, and I think that’s because it blows our mind to even try to fathom it. God is such a powerful and amazing being that He operates completely outside our sphere of comprehension.
One of my favorite bands (at least for the first half of their career), Over the Rhine, had a song on their debut album called “Ubiquitous Hands.” It expressed the idea of being in awe at being in the hands of a God who is so perfect yet loves us even though we “repeat the same mistakes” over and over.
This week, take time to be in awe of this ubiquitous God.
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