The Bible says God can see us in our inner room when we pray to him secretly. Matthew 6:6 says, “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” I have a secret room. Ask my wife or children about my secret room in the house, and they would know what you are asking right away. No, it is not a hidden library or a hidden tactical command center, or anything like that. But if you entered my closet and looked to your left, you would find a door that leads into another room. This attic space has a sloped ceiling, and is also windowless and carpeted. It felt creepy the first time I stood in the room. But now, in there, and on my days off, I listen to my favorite jazz recordings. But there is also where I read my Bible, and pray. You may say there is My Bethel.
For the past few weeks, I wrote about omnipotent and omniscient. These two words describe the all-powerful and all-knowing attributes of our God, respectively. Today, I am going to talk to you about another one of God’s attributes, omnipresent. The compound word combines omni, meaning “all” and present, meaning “everywhere”. Together, the word says that our God is all-present. What does it mean to you that God is all-present? Do you think it means he is everywhere? If so, is he there in your living room? Is he there underneath the table? Is he there in our inner room? In what way is God everywhere? What do you think?
The word “omnipresent” does not exist in the Bible. If you searched for the word in the Bible, you would not find it. Therefore, it must be that one day, someone came up with the word to describe our God. But what made him do this? What made him come up with such a thing? I cannot say for sure but if I had to guess, it came from one or more of these passages in the Bible.
Jeremiah 23:23–24 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “And not a God far off? “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord.
Psalm 139:7–10 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea...
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.
Job 34:21 “For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps."
Hebrews 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
As we can see, there are more than a few places in the Bible that seem to be saying that our God is everywhere, and that we cannot hide from him. For a very long time, Christians felt comfortable saying that God is omnipresent. But have you thought through what does that really mean? Is God really present underneath the table? Is he present in the air I breathe? If I took a deep breath, and drew in a big gulp of air into my mouth, does this mean I just swallowed some God? Umm, probably not. If not, then what does it mean?
As for me, when we say God is omnipresent, this says to me you and I have access to God everywhere. God is accessible from everywhere. God is present and available to those who call on his name from anywhere. In the place where we have health, peace, or security, we can have access to God. In the place where we have uncertainty, anguish or hopelessness, we can have access to God. In this respect, my thoughts of an omnipresent God are not very far from what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
The omnipresence of God should remind us that we cannot hide from God. Jonah tried to flee from Nineveh and God’s presence, but found out the hard way that no matter how far he traveled, God was there waiting for him. There is no place on this planet where we can go to get away from God. But the omnipresence of God should also remind us that we can have access to him from no matter where we are. We have access to God from anywhere. We don’t have to worry if we are out of range with God, and we have lost signal. We shall never have to feel like the man in the Verizon commercial, and ask God, “Can you hear me now?” We should never feel surprised when we have accessed God. In Genesis, Jacob dreamed and saw angels walk up and down a ladder that reached up to heaven. When he awoke from his dream, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it,” and named the place, Bethel. Our God is omnipresent. He is accessible to us from anywhere we are.