I Am Not Omnipresent

When the Triune God created mankind, He said...

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis 1:26a, ESV)

This "image" is why humans have the capability to love, create, dream, build, invent, write, demand justice, counsel, and so much more. Without His image within us, we would just be another species of animal on this planet. (And we wouldn't have novels, football, or ice cream. I'm glad God gave us His image!)

And yet, as much of Himself as He generously imbued into us, He did not share all of His characteristics.

You (and I) are Not God

As we move into a new school year, I want to move into a new series here on the blog. While we are discussing 1 Corinthians on Sundays, for the next three weeks, we are going to consider in this space how God is God and we are not. In other words, we are going to look at three of the characteristics which separate God from humanity. (Theologians call these unshared characteristics God's "incommunicable attributes.") First up, I want us to reflect on how God is omnipresent (everywhere at all times), yet He has chosen to put us in one location at any one time.

In Psalm 139, King David declares...

"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." (Psalm 139:7-10, ESV)

Yet, as David declares the theological truth of God's continual presence, he is simultaneously and unknowingly declaring his own lack of "omni" presence. He recognizes that if he could somehow ascend to heaven, God would unsurprisingly be there, but that would be the only place David could be. But if David left heaven to go into "Sheol" (the grave), David would cease to be in heaven, yet God would be in Sheol with David while simultaneously in heaven above. So David poetically shows our limited presence while affirming God's omnipresence.

Fully God, Fully Man

When Jesus prepared to ascend back to heaven, He told His disciples, "[B]ehold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20, ESV) Jesus is revealing His omnipresence, because He was (and is) fully God.

Yet, multiple times in the four Gospels and the book of Acts, Jesus was known as "Jesus of Nazareth." As fully man, He occupied one place at any one time. And this was not an insult! He happily and gladly took on the confines of human flesh, living among us, self-limited to a singular place. (John 1:14)

Too often, I think we humans try to be like God by trying to be in more than one place at one time. (And I don't mean standing on the state line with one foot in Minnesota and the other in Iowa.) While at home, our attention is on someone else's vacation photos on Instagram. While at work or school, we dream of where we will be some upcoming weekend. We aren't content to be in one place at one time.

But if the Son of God was content to be "Jesus of Nazareth," then perhaps we should take the advice of Jim Elliot, the famous missionary, when he wrote, "Wherever you are, be all there."

So today, if you are at work or school, be all there. If you are at home, be all there. If you are with a friend, be all there. Don't try to be someplace else, discontent with your current reality. Rather, seek to simply be you in this one moment, knowing the omnipresent God is with you.