Where Isn’t God?

 

Have you ever heard someone begin a question with the words “where is God”? When someone is sick and it doesn’t seem like their healing is going to happen, some scoffer might look at you and say, “Where is your God? You always pray to Him. Well where is He?” After a tragedy like a hurricane or tornado, critics will loudly ponder, “Where was God when this storm destroyed everything?”

 

As Christians, we realize that God is everywhere. We refer to this as God’s omnipresence. Nobody expressed this doctrine better than David when he rhetorically asked, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, 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 (Psalm 139:7-10).”

 

Did you notice how David covered all his bases? If David could somehow ascend to the highest heights, or descend to the deepest hell, he would find God in either location. Not only did David find God by going north and south, he also found Him by going east and west. The “wings of the morning” is a reference to the sun, which rises in the east, and unless “the sea” is otherwise designated in the Old Covenant, it always refers to the Mediterranean Sea, which was west of Israel. North, south, east, or west, David placed God at the four points of the compass. This is a poetic way of saying that God isn’t just in those four places, but He is everywhere in between. 

 

People like to ask where is God, but a better question would be where isn’t God? If God is truly everywhere at once, then He was present when the storm hit, and when our loved ones didn’t recover. Those things may be hard for us to understand, or even to accept, but we must rule out the option of God not being there. He has a perfect plan, and sometimes we are not going to like it, but God is right there with us, whether we are on a mountain top, or making our bed in the depths. 

 

This fact of God’s omnipresence is both comforting and convicting. It is comforting to know that God is always with us, even on days when it might not feel like He is. It is comforting to pray to the God of heaven, realizing He is also on earth. It is comforting to know the eyes of the Lord are in every place, and nothing escapes His notice. His eye is on the sparrow, and I’m glad He watches me. 

 

But it is also convicting to the one who hopes to keep secrets from God. It is convicting to the person who is trying to successfully live a double life. It is convicting to the person who says all the right things on Sundays, then lives like the devil on every other day that ends in y. 

 

Where isn’t God? He is in your Sunday school class and sanctuary on Sunday morning, but He is also in your car and at your office. He sees what you watch, He hears what you listen to, and He observes your conduct. Does that thought comfort you or convict you?