April 16 Devotion - God is Omnipresent

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there. ⁹ If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, ¹⁰ even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will take hold of me but the night shines as bright as the day; darkness and light are alike to You.. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, and the night will be the only light around me,” ¹² even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,

Psalm 139:7-12

أَيْنَ الْمَهْرَبُ مِنْ رُوحِكَ؟ أَيْنَ الْمَفَرُّ مِنْ حَضْرَتِكَ؟ ⁸ إِنْ صَعِدْتُ إِلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ فَأَنْتَ هُنَاكَ، وَإِنْ جَعَلْتُ فِرَاشِي فِي عَالَمِ الأَمْوَاتِ فَهُنَاكَ أَنْتَ أَيْضاً. ⁹ إِنِ اسْتَعَرْتُ أَجْنِحَةَ الْفَجْرِ وَطِرْتُ، وَسَكَنْتُ فِي أَقْصَى أَطْرَافِ الْبَحْرِ ¹⁰ فَهُنَاكَ أَيْضاً يَدُكَ تَهْدِينِي وَيُمْنَاكَ تُمْسِكُنِي. ¹¹ إِنْ قُلْتُ فِي نَفْسِي: «رُبَّمَا الظُّلْمَةُ تَحْجُبُنِي وَالضَّوْءُ حَوْلِي يَصِيرُ لَيْلاً»، ¹² فَحَتَّى الظُّلْمَةُ لَا تُخْفِي عَنْكَ شَيْئاً، وَاللَّيْلُ كَالنَّهَارِ يُضِيءُ، فَسِيَّانَ عِنْدَكَ الظَّلاَمُ وَالضَّوْءُ.

Would you agree that if people are being constantly watched and heard through technology and sophisticated cameras, people will stop doing ‘wrong’ things and stop saying ‘wrong’ things? If you are speeding and see in the rear view mirror the flashing lights of a police car do you slow down? I think we all do.

God is everywhere, He is omnipresent (present everywhere all the time). He can see us, hear us, know our thoughts and hear us all the time. Yet we continue doing wrong things, having wrong thoughts and sinning against God. I believe we often put more emphasis on what people think than what God thinks.

King David expressed the omnipresence of God, and realized that he cannot hide from God. It is our human nature to be weak and do ‘wrong’ things but we (the followers of Jesus Christ who have accepted Him as our Saviour and made Him Lord over our lives) have a source of strength, a source of purity, love, forgiveness and peace available to us because The Holy Spirit lives within us. We need to tap into that strength and relinquish the fire of The Holy Spirit that we may have quenched.

Do not quench the Spirit. لا تُطفِئُوا عَمَلَ الرُّوحِ القُدُسِ فِيكُمْ.

1 Thessalonians 5:19

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, I know intellectually that You are omnipresent, let me feel Your presence, Lord. Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts; Psalm 139:23 Lord help me, let The Holy Spirit convict me of anything that is within me that is not pleasing to You. Help me Lord to focus on You, not on my circumstances. Increase my faith O’Lord and show me Your ways. Jesus help to become more and more Christ like on a daily basis. Father God, thank You that You love me and that Your love is unfailing, steadfast, deep, and everlasting. Thank You Father for Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. I pray in the Holy Name of Jesus, my Lord and Saviour. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein