Day 5 - God is Everywhere Always

Ps 46:1 (NIV) God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

God is everywhere. This is something that can cause some confusion in our thinking. How does this work? Does this mean God is part of everything? Why are we generally unaware of His presence? These are good questions, and we want to have them answered as much as possible. Being another aspect of God’s infinite nature, this isn’t something we can easily grasp with our finite minds.

The word we often use to describe this part of God’s nature is “omnipresent,” which simply means always present. And the word “present” has more than one meaning.

First, present means here. So for God, “here” is everywhere. Or you could just as easily say everywhere is “here.” There is nowhere in this universe that God is not present. This doesn’t mean He is part of the universe – in fact, He is not (that would be pantheism). He created it, and so He’s separate from it. And yet, He is everywhere within it.

Second, present means now. So for God, “now” is always. Or again you could say always is “now.”  This might even be more difficult to grasp because of how time is such an important part of our lives. Everything we do is in a sequence, and at a certain time – we can’t escape it. However, God created time, and so is outside it – He is not controlled by it. With this in mind, it’s entirely possible that God can see all of human history at once.

A Bible passage that expresses this beautifully is Ps 139:7-12.

This is quite mind-boggling, but this is our God. Rather than wrestling with trying to understand all this, we should relax and find security in the greatness of God. Back in Ps 139:6, the author declares, “This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in!”

There is nothing beyond Him, which means that He can help us in every situation.

Consider:

If God is everywhere, does this mean He is always with you?

Can you find security and comfort in knowing that He is infinite, yet cares for you?