"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Jonah 1:3
The verse above is almost comical. Where can a person go from the presence of the Lord? There is no place-- it doesn't exist. God is Omnipresent. You will never find a place where He is not. He is everywhere. He fills all of creation-- even those places that we have never heard of.
The Psalmist asked this question-- "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" (Psalm 139:7) -- but he turned around and answered his own question because he knew the answer. The Lord is in heaven. He sees in hell. He is in the uttermost parts of the sea. He is in the darkness and nighttime, as well as the day and light. He was there even watching over you in your mother's womb. (Psalm 139:8-16) There is nowhere where you can go from the presence of the Lord. Jonah learned that the presence of the Lord is everywhere the hard way. The Lord was in Joppa. He was in Tarshish. He was in Nineveh. He was in the boat, in the storm, and in the belly of the whale.
For the sinner this may not be good news because there is no place you can run, no where you can hide, nothing you can do that the presence of the Lord does not see you. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." (Proverbs 15:3) For the saved/believer this is good news because there is no place where the presence of the Lord is not with us-- through good times, trials, tribulations, storms, problems, difficulties, etc. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5b)
Have a great day. Like Jonah you can't escape the presence of the Lord-- He is everywhere. A place where God isn't does not exist.
For further reading:
Psalm 139
No comments:
Post a Comment