In light of Psalm 139, Stephen Charnock gives this definition: “Omnipresence is that whereby he hath neither bounds nor limitation… He is from the height of the heavens to the bottom of the deeps, in every point of the world, and in the whole circle of it, yet not limited by it, but beyond it.”2 Mark Jones writes, “God is perfectly and powerfully present in every place he fills all space as God. God is omnipresent, meaning that He is all present or everywhere present. As we consider the wonderful truth that God is omnipresent, let consider three truths and then four applications of God’s omnipresence for counseling.įirst, God is everywhere present all the time. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, ’even the darkness is not dark to you the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” What an encouraging truth that God is everywhere we could possibly be and beyond, and for Him there is no darkness. In Psalm 139:7-9, David uses the extreme opposites of heaven and hell as well as the east from the west, before concluding in verses 10-12: “even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Rather than longing for Christ to be exalted as all in all in the presence of others, do we not seek the praise of others for ourselves through our conversations and achievements? Again, we must be careful not to delight in the presents from God apart from or above our delight in the presence of God.
In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God.” A parent can make an idol out of children, loving a child as a temporal present from God more than loving God whose presence is eternal. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on, that motivates us, that masters and rules us, or that we trust, fear, or serve (Matt. Ken Sande, in his book The Peacemaker, writes the following: “An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worship edit and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” The people took the very gold that God has lavished upon them in their departure from Egypt and turned it into an idol, worshipping their golden image rather than the God who had given them the gold! What might be our response to Israel’s blatant idolatry? How stupid! But wait a minute: Is it possible that even this week you have in essence done the same thing? What gifts has God given you in which greater delight is being sought than in God Himself? Is this not idolatry? While Moses is meeting with God, what do the people do? Exodus 32:8, “They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. Moses then goes up to meet with God and receives the commandments of God. In Exodus 19, the people of Israel trembled at Mount Sinai when God manifested His presence upon the mountain in such a way that “the whole mountain trembled greatly” as the Lord descended upon it in fire and the mountain was wrapped in smoke. Delighting in the presence of God keeps us from vainly living for the presents of God.1 Is not most counseling needed because of someone functionally looking to someone or something other than God for supreme delight and purpose in life? When we lose sight of God’s presence, we begin to worship His presents.
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