The Omnipresence of God by John
Macduff Where shall I go from your spirit? Where shall I flee
from your presence? Psalm 139.7 the omnipresence of God! How
baffling to any finite comprehension! To think that above us, and around
us, and within us, there is Deity, the invisible footprints of an
omniscient, omnipresent One! His eyes are in every place,
on rolling planets and tiny atoms, on the bright seraph and the
lowly worm, roaming in searching scrutiny through the tracks of
immensity, and reading the dark and hidden page of my heart.
All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom
we have to do. O God, shall this your omnipresence
appall me? No! In my seasons of sadness
and sorrow and loneliness, When other comforts and comforters
have failed, When, it may be, in the darkness and silence Of
some midnight hour, in vain I have sought repose, How sweet to think! My God is here, I am not alone. The Omniscient One, to whom the
darkness and the light are both alike, is hovering over my sleepless
pillow. O my unsetting sun, it cannot
be darkness or loneliness or sadness where you are. There
can be no night to the soul which has been cheered with your glorious
radiance. Surely I am with you always. How precious, blessed Jesus,
is this! Your legacy of parting love,
present with each of your people until the end of time, ever-present,
omnipresent, the true pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of
fire by night, preceding and encamping by us in every step
of our wilderness journey. My soul, think of him at this
moment, as present with every member of the family, that he
has redeemed with his blood. Yes, and as much present with
every individual soul, as if he had none other to care for,
but as if that one engrossed all his affection and love. The great builder! surveying
every stone and pillar of his spiritual temple, the Great Shepherd,
with his eye on every sheep of his fold, the Great High Priest,
marking every teardrop, noting every sorrow, listening to every
prayer, knowing the peculiarities of every case, no number perplexing
him, no variety bewildering him, able to attend to all, and satisfy
all, and answer all, myriads drawing hourly from his treasury,
and yet no diminution of that treasury, ever emptying, and
yet ever filling, and always full. Jesus, your perpetual and
all-pervading presence turns darkness into day. I am not left
unbefriended to weather the storms of life, Your hand is from hour
to hour piloting my frail vessel, the omnipresence of God, gracious
antidote to every earthly sorrow. I have set the Lord always before
me. Even now, as night is drawing
its curtains around me, be this my closing prayer. Blessed Saviour,
abide with me, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. Under the shadowing wings of
your presence and love, I will both lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O Lord, make me live in safety. Psalm 4 8.