The Omnipresence of God By Charles
Simeon Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth?
– Jeremiah 23.24 What folly it is to commit sin under the idea
of secrecy! That such stupidity prevails
in the world is manifest to all. The thief takes advantage of
his concealment to lay his hand upon his neighbor's property.
The adulterer watches for the return of night when he may accomplish
his wicked purposes without detection, Job chapter 24, verses 15 to
17. Sinners of every description
commit in secret what they would not dare to perpetrate if they
knew that the eyes of their fellow creatures were upon them. Why
do they act thus, unless from the atheistic hope that God is
not aware of their actions, or from an utter denial of His presence?
Such conduct, however, is folly in the extreme. For the eyes
of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
Proverbs Chapter 15 Verse 3 Even the darkness will not be dark
to him, the night will shine like the day, for darkness is
as light to him. Psalm Chapter 139 Verse 12 as He observes all men, so He
will also bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and will
expose the motives of men's hearts, as a ground of that sentence
which He will one day pass upon all the workers of iniquity.
1 Corinthians 4, verse 5. Let this be remembered in reference
to all the sins we have ever committed in secret, and let
it teach us to seek the forgiveness of them while yet the door of
mercy is still open to us. How vain are the hopes of the
hypocrite! For what hope does the hypocrite
have when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? Job
27, verse 8. It is not a very difficult matter
to deceive others. Yes, we may also deceive our
own selves. But we can never deceive God.
However deceptive our conduct may be, God will discern our
corrupt motives and principles and will judge us according to
the real quality of our hearts. There is one way, and only one,
in which we can hide our sins from God, and that is by fleeing
to the Lord Jesus Christ for refuge. Then, though God will
behold the repentant sinner, He will not behold the sin, for
it shall all be blotted out as a morning cloud and be cast behind
Him into the depths of the sea. The vilest sinner in the universe,
if he is found in Christ, shall be complete in Christ and without
spot or blemish before him. Such a hiding place is Christ.
A man will be, like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from
the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow
of a great rock in a parched land. Isaiah chapter 32 verse
2 Such shall be the felicity of
all who believe in Him. Acts chapter 10 verse 43. But it is in vain to hope that
by any other means we shall escape the wrath of God. Nothing in
all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered
and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4.13 Every sin not purged
away by the blood of Jesus shall be visited with just and everlasting
judgments.