If God is everywhere, then why do we often use phrases in church services like “invite God to meet with us” and “feel the presence of God?” Or if God is not everywhere, who came up with that idea?
The more I have studied the Bible, especially what it says about the “spiritual realm” (where God and angels dwell), the more I realize that there is more to the concept of God’s presence and what is happening “behind the scenes” of this physical world than I knew. This has been frustrating to me because I like to figure things out. But this has also been awe-inspiring to me because there are aspects of God that I and all the many theologians who are way smarter than me cannot figure out.
While this topic deserves more and deeper study, I want to explain two connected ideas I have learned that I hope will also bring you clarity.
God is “omni-present” (meaning he is present everywhere) in the sense that he is before all things as Creator, above all things as Sovereign King, and around all things as Supporter and Sustainer. This orthodox teaching contrasts with another common teaching called Deism, which states that while God created everything, he is not currently involved or present with his creation.
However, God is not physically or materially everywhere. That would not make sense because if he were physically everywhere, then we could see him with our eyes and hear him with our ears. Also, God is not "in everything" like other religions might think. That is called Pantheism, and it is one of several false teachings about God's presence that we need to test out and stay away from.
Instead, God is spiritually everywhere. Similarly, even though air is everywhere, we cannot see it. We can, however, see its effects.
While I’m sure you could point to one church father or another as the first to popularize or write a book on the idea, no one “came up with it.” And just because some councils agreed on the concept doesn’t mean they discovered it or came up with it. God has always been all-present, no matter who recognizes it. In the 1st century A.D., Paul explains of God:
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” - Colossians 1:17 ESV
Centuries before that, one of my favorite poets of all time, King David, refers to God’s omnipresence in Psalm 139 when he writes:
“Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, 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.
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."
One of my favorite Latin phrases is “Coram Deo,” which means “living before the face of God.” That is what David was thinking about when he wrote that poem. We would do well to remember that even right now whatever we are doing and whoever we are with, we are doing it in God’s presence and before his face.
God is everywhere all at once, or does he “show up” sometimes? Yes! There are times throughout life that so many Christians, including myself, can testify about that God will “meet with us” in unique, felt, and impactful ways. This is what we call God’s “manifest presence.”
But let me be clear — there is no formula or “secret chord” that we can play (sorry, Leonard Cohen) to get God to obey our whims and do something. Instead, God has promised:
"Seek the LORD your God... with all your heart and with all your soul" then you will find him." - Deuteronomy 4:29, ESV
God's manifest presence is on top of his omnipresence. It is a special feeling and realization of God's nearness. As the Christian artists Shane and Shane sang in one of my favorite songs called "Be Near":
"Be near, O God
Be near, O God of us
Your nearness is to us our good."
I recently began thinking more about this topic of God's presence as I read through the book Sound Check by Kurtis Parks. In this book, he encourages Worship Leaders by writing:
“While omnipresence says ‘wherever we go, there he is,’ manifest presence says ‘wherever he goes, there I want to be!’… God’s presence is a place of refreshing. He washes away all the junk in our lives and renews us completely. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, and we are able to draw closer to his heart.”
Parks references Moses, who recognized that God's manifest presence is "something to be pursued… not something we stumble upon but passionately seek after.” In the book of Exodust:
“Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” - Exodus 33:12 — 15, ESV
Much of the language David used throughout the Psalms lets us know that he was also seeking God's manifest presence. He wrote in Psalm 95:2:
"Let us come into his presence."
We see this even more clearly in Psalm 63, when David is writing in the wilderness of Judah. He wrote:
"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory... My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." - Psalm 63:1-8
The most wonderful thing about God's presence is that it is not mysterious, secret, or foreign to us. God not only wants to be known and to know us, but he has made a way for us to connect to him through Jesus Christ.
Let's follow Moses and David's example and seek God's face. As God promised, we will find him if we seek him with our whole hearts.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Thomas Jackson