Omnipresent God

In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Psalm 18:6

One of the earliest Christian prayers affirms and reminds us that God is “everywhere present and filling all things.” I say reminds us because we are prone to forget this foundational truth. So often we act as though God is “out there” in the great beyond, distant and unknowable, and as a result uninterested and uninvolved in the intimate details of our lives or the evils that plague our societies. This deistic faith has worked its way into our collective psyche, often in subtle and unnoticeable ways, yet when left unchecked the results can be disastrous.

Even in the Psalms, like Psalm 18 for instance, we see glimpses of this view of God. When our hearts are heavy and we feel a deep need for the nearness of God, we believe that we must cry at the top of our lungs, send our prayers as high as we possibly can, hoping that in our strength and great effort they will shoot high enough and launch far enough to reach him in his distant, unapproachable glory. Yet what if that ancient prayer is actually true? What if God, the one who is merciful and loves humanity with an all-consuming love, is present in every place, every time, and intimately involved with the cares of the world and the longings and desires of our hearts?

The incarnation of Jesus forever transformed our view of God and how we relate to him. Rather than being the distant and unknowable God, God in Jesus draws near to you and me in our weakness and frailty in order to make us whole. The love of God finds us when we are unable to find him. It finds us when we are unable to find ourselves. Our ability to encounter this love is not based on how loudly we cry to heaven but is first and foundationally built upon God’s nearness and kindness to us.

In light of this truth, you and I face a daily invitation into a life of attentiveness. It is entirely possible to go through life without an awareness of the activity of God in our midst. In times of great uncertainty, political division, and social unrest, this temptation is only amplified. Our attention is demanded by countless forces, some worthy of our time and energy, many not. Yet the great tragedy in this present moment would be to give our time, our resources, and our attention away without first realizing how our lives are sustained and upheld by our Lord, moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. And so, focus your body, mind, and spirit today on the God who loves you, the one who is “everywhere present and filling all things.”

Refuge

I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him. O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Psalm 34:4-10

Over the past week I like you most likely have read several articles on the state of the Coronavirus pandemic, each more or less saying the same thing: while case rates continue to grow exponentially around the world, more and more societies seem to be saying “enough is enough” and moving on with some version of "normal life". And while I undoubtedly understand the sentiment, and understand many of the arguments in favor of this opinion, I do want to point one thing out: weariness with the burden of a situation and the exhaustion it brings is not the same thing as relief or true refuge.

It seems that this weariness from the burden of sickness has left us as a society desperate for relief. Especially if you live an affluent middle-class existence, likely suffering (or the threat of suffering) at such a scale is something you’ve never encountered prior to this moment. Yet as the demonstrations and protests of recent weeks have reminded us all, there is a voice of the oppressed that has been marginalized and devalued for centuries, and if we have ears to listen, that voice can teach us all what it means to long for the salvation and refuge that God gives.

In this psalm, David finds himself in need of God’s intervention. He speaks with raw vulnerability, acknowledging that his heart is filled with fear and worry. And yet, in the midst of his doubts and confusion he wills himself to take a step forward in faith, moving towards the Lord in his time of great trouble.

Just because the Lord is a refuge and salvation of trouble does not mean it is automatic that we will enter into the safety He offers. While David speaks objective truth about the mercy and compassion of God, he also realizes he must actively enter into the rest of God and intentionally pursue places of peace. As he says in verse 10, “Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

The abundant life with God requires that we not only believe that He is good but that we act upon that belief with faith and obedience. In times of weariness, sickness, and social unrest, the temptation is often to turn inward and hope the storm will soon pass. Instead, we must have the clarity of heart and mind to look into the chaos of the storm, and pass through it in peace as we look to the Lord for our deliverance.