I tried hiding once.
Not from my human.
He’s got treats.
I was hiding from bath time.
I squeezed behind a chair, tucked myself between a table and the wall, and remained perfectly still.
In my mind, I had become invisible.
A canine ninja.
A furry master of stealth.
Then I heard it.
“Come on out, buddy. I can see you.”
Foiled again.
My human knew exactly where I was.
That got me thinking about something I heard him reading one morning from Psalm 139.
King David asked a question that sounded a little like my failed attempt to avoid bath time:
“Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?” - Psalm 139:7
The answer?
Nowhere.
David said if he went to heaven, God was there.
If he went to the depths, God was there.
If he flew on the wings of the dawn or settled on the far side of the sea, God was there.
Even darkness couldn’t hide him because darkness is as light to God (Psalm 139:8-12).
Now that’s impressive.
I can lose sight of my tennis ball in tall grass.
I can forget where I buried a bone.
Sometimes I walk into a room and forget why I went there.
But God never loses sight of anything.
He sees every sparrow (Matthew 10:29).
He knows the number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7).
He understands our thoughts before we think them and our words before we speak them (Psalm 139:1-4).
That’s what the big theological word omniscience means.
God knows everything.
And omnipresence means God is everywhere.
Not spread thin.
Not distracted.
Fully present everywhere at once.
For some folks, that sounds intimidating.
For a dog, it’s comforting.
When thunderstorms rattle the windows and I press close to my human, I know he’s near.
His presence calms me.
How much more comforting is it that God’s presence never leaves His children?
When life is joyful, He’s there.
When life hurts, He’s there.
When prayers seem unanswered, He’s there.
When we feel alone, He is closer than our next breath.
God isn’t merely watching from a distance.
He is actively present, guiding, protecting, comforting, and shaping those who belong to Him (Isaiah 41:10; Hebrews 13:5).
So maybe the question isn’t, “Where can I go from His presence?”
The better question is, “Why would I want to?”
The God who knows everything about us loves us completely through Jesus Christ.
The One we cannot escape is the very One who gave Himself to save us.
That’s not frightening.
That’s grace.
And unlike bath time, that’s something worth running toward.
Here’s the deal:
You can never wander beyond God’s presence or outside His knowledge.
The God who sees you completely also loves you perfectly and promises never to leave you.
Now that’s something right there…
Prayer: Lord, thank You that there is nowhere I can go where You are not. Help me rest in the comfort of Your presence and trust in Your perfect knowledge of my life. Amen.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
