Today we’re going to learn about the God who is always here … who is always there [point out into the congregation] … and there [point to a different part of the congregation] … who is always everywhere. Just as God is infinite with respect to time, so He is infinite in terms of space. He is omnipresent. He is everywhere present at the same time. His Presence is unlimited … present in every part of space with His whole being.
During World War II, two Dutch sisters … Corrie and Betsie ten Boom … hid Jewish people in their home and helped them escape from the Nazis. They eventually got caught and were sent to Ravensbruck, one of the most notorious concentration camps in Germany. There they endured incredible hardship, deprivation, and suffering … yet they ministered to hundreds of their fellow prisoners who needed to hear about their Lord and Savior. Their barracks were transformed into a Bible study and prayer center.
Eventually Betsie became deathly ill. As she was being taken to the prison hospital, Corrie tried to shield her sister’s body from the sleet that stung their bodies. After the orderlies set Betsie’s stretcher on the hospital floor, Corrie leaned down to hear the words on her sister’s weak lips. “… must tell people what we learned here,” her sister whispered. “We must tell them that there is no pit too deep that [God] is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we’ve been there.”
There is no pit too deep that God is not deeper still. When I wake up in the morning … God is with me. When I kneel to worship Him … He is with me. When I drive my car … He is with me. When I get on a plane … He is with me. When I arrive at my destination … He is already there.
God is not limited by time … or space … or height … or depth … or our level of faith. He is always with us whether we are taking giant steps of faith or we are taking the first baby steps of faith. As David proclaims in Psalm 139, God is everywhere out there … but He is also here [touch heart]. He lives inside of every person who puts their trust in God through faith in Jesus Christ, amen?
In 1944, Dietrich Ritschl’s city was bombed. Thousands of people were killed. After the bombing stopped, Dietrich was lying on a bench in the railroad station that was serving as a makeshift hospital. Looking up through the partially destroyed roof as the fires were burning all over the destroyed city, he caught a glimpse of an inscription carved into one of the remaining sections of the ceiling. It read: “Beyond the stars there must live a gracious Father.” Lying there, looking at that inscription, he thought: “I do not want such a god. I do not want a god who is beyond the stars. I want a god who is here. I want a god who is present. A god who is available. A god who knows and understands my situation.”
While we are rightfully awed by the reality of God’s universal presence in every inch of space, what we need most is the sense of His manifest presence here … His presence being near to bless us. We want a God who dwells with us and understand us and understands what it is like to live with us. According to the Prophet Isaiah, we have such a God: “For this is what the High and Exalted One says – He who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite’” (Isaiah 57:15)
For 400 years, the Hebrew people lived as slaves in the land of Egypt, surrounded at every turn by their pagan gods and their pagan culture. They must of felt like David when he wrote Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken us? Why are You so far from saving us, so far from the words of our groaning?” For 400 years, they cried out by day and God did not answer … by night and God appeared to be silent (Psalm 22:1-2).
And yet, God did hear them. God was with them … and with an old man by the name of Moses on the backside of nowhere a thousand miles away. “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt,” God tells Moses. “I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:7-8a). “So now, go!” God commands Moses. “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (v.10).
To let Moses know that he doesn’t go alone, God commands Moses to throw his staff to the ground … whereupon it became a serpent. When Moses picks it up again, it turns back into a staff … and that staff traveled with Moses everywhere that he went. Moses used it to call down plagues upon the Egyptians. He used it to part the Red Sea so that his people could pass through on dry ground ... and then used it to close the sea upon Pharaoh’s pursuing army and drown them. He used his staff to win the battle against the Amalekites. With that staff, he provided water for his people in the desert. He used that staff to hold himself up and to hold up God’s people when they were down. It was a sign of God’s Presence everywhere that he went.
But God also let His Presence be seen amongst the Hebrew exiles in other ways. Once they had crossed the Red Sea, the Lord went ahead of them “as a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus 13:21-22).
Before the Tabernacle was constructed, God met with Moses in a temporary structure … a tent called the “Tent of Meeting.” “As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses” (v. 9). “The Lord would speak to Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks with his friend” (v. 11).
In the Law that God gave Moses, God provided specific instructions on how to build a place of worship so that He could be with His people and they could be with Him. The Tabernacle, like the Tent of Meeting, could be taken down and moved every time they had to change their location in the wilderness. The Lord was present and with the Israelites every step, every minute, and every mile they wandered in the wilderness … and when it came time for Moses to be taken up to Heaven and for Joshua to take over Moses’ duties as leader of the Israelites, Moses reassured him: “And the Lord, He is the One who goes before … He will be with you … He will not leave nor forsake you; do no fear nor be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8). After Moses’ death, the Lord Himself told Joshua: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage” (Joshua 12:5-6).
One of the most vivid accounts of God’s Presence concerns King Solomon, who built the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. In its day, it was the most beautiful and incredible building on the face of the earth. When Solomon prepared to dedicate the Temple in 1st King 8:27, he had second thoughts. “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You … how much less this temple which I have built.” And yet, when Solomon dedicated the Temple, the Bible says that “fire came down from Heaven and consumed the burnt offering and sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple. The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it” (1st Chronicles 7:1-2). On the one hand, Heaven and earth cannot contain God, yet His manifest glory came down to dwell within the Temple and bless His people.
Another way that God made people aware of His ever-abiding Presence was through His prophets. Through His prophet Jeremiah, God asks: “Am I only a nearby God and not a god far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? Do I not fill Heaven and earth?” (Jeremiah 23:23-24).
The Lord made this promise through His prophet Isaiah: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep water and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, Your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1-3).
There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. A few days after her 30th birthday, Helen Stillman became very ill. A few days after her doctor admitted her to the hospital, she began having problems breathing. Although she pressed the nurse’s call button, no one responded. Panicked, she realized that she was dying … right there in the hospital … and no one knew. As her breathing became more labored, she began to lose consciousness. She was helpless, yet she desperately wanted to live to see her young daughter and husband again. As she began praying and calling out to God, a supernatural peace flooded over her. God impressed this promise clearly in her heart: “If you awake and are in Heaven, I am with you. If you awake and are in the hospital, I am with you. Either way, I am just as close to you.” With that promise ringing in her ears, she put her future in God’s hands. Then, through eyelids barely cracked, she saw the elevator doors slide open in the all outside her room. Out walked her pastor. By the time he reached her bedside, she drifted into unconsciousness … but, because of his quick response, her life was saved.
The comforting words of Psalm 23:4 rings beautifully true. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Why? Because His rod and His staff let us know that He is there with us, amen?
After the last prophet, Malachi, spoke, God appeared to silent once more. After 400 years, God did not send another prophet like Moses … He sent Jesus Christ … “Emmanuel” … “God with us.” Sometimes we relegate this word, “Emmanuel,” to the Christmas season and forget about it the rest of the year. But this name, this title, is something to cherish and meditate upon every day. Jesus Christ … Emmanuel … God with us! God is everywhere present … but He brought His Presence down to us.
In the upper room, Jesus told His Disciples: “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things” (John 14:25-28). According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is always with us because it lives with us and lives in us (John 14:17). Just as God told Joshua that He would neither leave him nor forsake him, Jesus told us: “Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And He promised that wherever two or three are gathered in His name, He will be there with them.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your Presence?” (Psalm 139:7). When a Sunday school teacher labors to teach preschoolers about God’s love, she may not receive many affirmations from others, yet the Lord sees every smile and every hug she gives them. When a Godly pastor spends hours in their office in heartfelt prayer for people who dislike them, try to thwart their ministry, or are apathetic about the church, God sees His pastors’ deep concern. For the bedridden elderly person who adopts a prayer ministry on behalf of loved ones, neighbors, and friends, God hears. For the Godly parents who pray into the night for their prodigal child, God sees. God knows abut the business person, betrayed by their business partner, who does not take revenge but responds in forgiveness and love. God sees … God hears … God knows.
Which also means He sees and hears and knows the wrong things we think we do in secret. You cannot just have Him near for comfort and not for conviction. Sorry … it just doesn’t work that way. We only fool ourselves if we think that no one will ever know. The Scripture says that nothing in all creation can hide from Him. “Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done” (Hebrews 4:13).
As David said in Psalm 139, there is no place where we can hide from God’s eyes, from God’s Spirit. God sees … God is there. As believers, we may break our fellowship with God when we sin but He does not break His fellowship with us. He is still dwelling within us … convicting us … helping us to do what is right through His loving discipline … and waiting for us to repent of our wrongdoing.
Let me give you some promises that you can count on as you consciously rely on the presence of God in your daily activities. First of all, when you are confused, God will guide you. Confusion … especially spiritual confusion … is rampant in our society, even among believers. It’s easy to be overwhelmed and stay lost ad confused most of the time. Well … you can be confident that God will reveal Himself to you when you don’t know where to turn. He has promised you that He will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. “I will counsel you and watch over you” (Psalm 32:8).
Second … when you are afraid, God will protect you. Whether you’re at home alone, driving on I-95 late at night, listening to cable news, waiting to hear from the doctor … God is right there beside you. “Do not be afraid,” says God, “for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Claim this promise and consciously remember that God is with you during your times of fear and uncertainty.
Third … when you are tempted, God will help you. If you’ve ever noticed, Satan does not give long, eloquent speeches. He doesn’t get right up in your face. He whispers! “Don’t call a friend … don’t ask for help … don’t pray … don’t depend on God. You don’t need God to help you with this. You can do it without Him … you’re pretty smart … pretty clever … why bother God with a little thing like this. God’s awfully busy right to pay attention to you and your little ol’ problems.”
The devil is not terribly frightened of our human abilities. In fact, he’d rather we rely on our own resources and our own strength and power. We’re no threat to him but God … God not only has the power to crush Satan but to put an end to his kingdom as well. When you are faced by Satan or by temptation, you should remember that God is right there beside you, amen? He’s not on the top of some mountain like Mt. Everest … He’ not at the bottom of the Mariana Trench … He’s not in some galaxy far, far away. Remember: “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength; but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it” (1st Corinthians 10:13).
Next … when you are hurting, God will comfort you. How could Paul and Silas sing praises to God in the depths of a stinking, filthy, cold prison cell? Their backs were raw because they had been beaten with ships and rods. Their feet were in stocks. And the jailer was looking for any excuse to execute them.
They could sing God’s praises in such horrible conditions because they knew that God was right there with them in that stinking, filthy, cold prison cell. As David wrote in Psalm 34: “The Lord is close to the broken hearted. He rescues those who are crushed in Spirit” (Psalm 34:18). Whatever pain you’re going through … physical, emotional, or mental … the Holy Spirit of God is there to comfort you, strengthen you, and give you courage.
Fifth … when we are discouraged, God will encourage you. Are you struggling with insurmountable bills? Have friends betrayed you? Do you feel inadequate at your job? As a parent? Remember: “There is no pit too deep that God is not deeper still.” When you come through the valleys of discouragement in your life and look back, you’ll see that God was always with you every step of the way.
And finally … promise #6 … when you are lonely, God will be your companion. Some of our most lonely moments can be when we’re in a crowd … or at church … and no one notices us. Our hearts ache when we think no one cares. Ahhhh …. But Jesus is our ever-present friend. He has promised us … as I said before … to never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:20).
The Apostle Paul wisely observed that no person … no circumstance … can ever remove us from the Presence of our loving God. Death can’t … and life can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, cannot separate us from the love of God … not even the very forces of hell can stand between us and God, amen? Whether we’re on top of the tallest mountain or in the bottom of the deepest cave, God is there. Nothing … no force, no power, no person in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Living in God’s Presence means realizing that God is with you every and any where 24/7 … and that He is more concerned about every part of your life than you could possibly imagine. The more I grow in my faith, the more I am aware of this truth in my life. The more I pray, the more I meditate on this, the more I am aware of His Presence beside me … inside my heart. This makes prayer and contemplation on God’s Word not only important to me but an adventure as well.
According to an old story, a group of ministers were discussing 1st Thessalonians 5:17, which commands us, among many things, to “pray without ceasing.” As they were discussing and debating what that could mean, a nameless old scrub woman who had overheard their discussion while she was scrubbing the floor stopped what she was doing and humbly gave them her understanding of what she thought Paul meant. “When I go to bed at night,” she said, “I thank the Lord for the joy of resting in His everlasting arms. When I awaken, I ask Him to open my eyes to behold new things from His Word. When I build a fire, I ask Him to kindle love in my heart. When I bathe, I ask Him to cleanse me from secret faults. When I eat, I thank Him for my food. As I walk to work, I pray to be led in paths of righteousness. As I pass the church, I pray for my pastor. While scrubbing these floors, I ask God to wash the hearts of those walking above me with His precious blood” … thus explaining how she had taught herself to be consciously aware of God’s Presence in her life very moment of every day.
We can do the same. God is omnipresent in His universe … yet He dwells with and among His people. Learn to meditate on His Presence when you’re confused … when you’re afraid … when you’re tempted …. When you’re hurting … when you’re discouraged … when you’re lonely. Don’t run from Him … run to Him.
Remember: there is no pit too deep that God is not deeper still. He is near you … beside you … with you … inside you … ready to assist you and bless you. He inhabits the entire universe and He dwells in the hearts of those who are humble and contrite. Take a moment now and every day to remind yourself of the joy that comes from His ever-present, manifest, abiding Presence. Exalt in the One who has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. And be sure of Jesus, who promised to be with you always … even to the end of the age, amen?
