Draw Near To God

Psalm 73:27-28

27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

He was just a little lad, and on a Sabbath day

was wandering home from Sunday school, and was dawdling on his way.

He scuffed his shoes into the grass; he found a caterpillar;

he found a fluffy milkweed pod and blew out all the "filler".

A bird's nest in the tree overhead, so wisely placed and high,

was just another wonder that caught his eager eye.

A neighbor watched his zig-zag course and hailed him from the lawn,

asked him where he had been that day and what was going on.

"Oh, I've been to Sunday school" – as he carefully turned the sod

and found a snail beneath it -- "I've learned a lot of God."

"A very fine way," the neighbor said, "for a boy to spend his time.

If you'll tell me where God is, I'll give you a brand new dime."

Quick as a flash his answer came, nor were his accents faint.

"I'll give you a dollar, Mister, if you'll tell me where God ain't."

God is Omnipresent.

There are certain truths about God that are so fundamental and foundational that they are often taken for granted.

One of those truths is the fact that God is Omnipresent.

He is everywhere, all of the time. The One who describes Himself as "The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity" (Isaiah 57:15),

says furthermore, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. (Isaiah 66:1).

In Jeremiah (23:23-24) God declared that he was at hand, and not afar off.

He went on to say “Do not I fill heaven and earth?”

The atheist wrote: "God is nowhere," but his little daughter read it: "God is now here,".

God is here. Wherever we are God is here.

Everywhere we are God is here. God is HERE.

There is no place, where he is not.

Jonah discovered this when he tried to flee from the presence of God.

He found, that even out on the uncharted waters of a storm tossed sea, God was there.

You can’t get away from Him. Wherever you go, He is there.

David, also, must have discovered that you cannot outrun the presence of God.

The eloquent prose of the Psalmist records his search:

Psalm 139:7-11 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

The first thing that I want you to understand this evening is that we serve an EVER PRESENT God.

He is HERE, wherever here is!

If you leave here and go there, wherever there is he will be there too.

As a matter of fact if we all left this sanctuary this evening and traveled as fast and as far as we could in different directions, when we all reached our destinations we would each discover that we could all say, with equal conviction that GOD IS HERE!

Any time you need Him, He is here.

Any time you call on Him, He is here.

Any time you seek Him, He is here.

Wherever this life may take you God will be there.

Paul preached to the people of Athens in Acts 17 that God is never far from us, for in Him we live, and move and have our being.

He is an ever-present God.

That’s why the Psalmist can say in the 46th Psalm that that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

We will not fear. Why? Because God is a present God!

He is here! He is an ever-present God.

You can draw nearer to him.

In light of this knowledge, the Psalmist presents us with a carefully crafted dilemma.

Psalm 73 (27-28) passes judgment on those that are “far from God.”

And declares that it is a good thing to draw near to God.

This begs the question, how can you draw near to a God that you can’t get away from?