God is Everywhere

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! – Psalm 139:7-8

Jonah, despite being a prophet of God, had to be taught this lesson – that a person can run from what God asks them to do, but they can’t really run from God. Jonah 1:3 tells us that Jonah had boarded the ship to Tarshish in an attempt to flee from the presence of Yahweh. But God intercepted Jonah’s flight and in chapter 2, Jonah is sitting inside a big fish pondering his situation.

Though escaping God’s presence had been Jonah’s goal, he now feels that God has driven him away (v4). In the depths of the sea, he is literally surrounded by his problems (v3,5). There seems to be no escape. At that moment, when all seemed lost, Jonah realized that he did not really want to leave God. Jonah 2:7 says, “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.”

Though Jonah was far away from Jerusalem, in a fish at the bottom of the sea, his prayer reaches God. This story would have encouraged the Israelites when they were in exile with no access to their temple. It would have reminded them that God could hear them when they prayed, no matter which part of the world they were in. He was not tied to a particular location. Even when Solomon dedicated the temple in 1 Kings 8, he recognized that people did not have to be in the temple for God to hear their prayers. All that was needed for them to be heard by God was for them to turn away from their sins and to turn back to God. And that’s what Jonah did; and God heard and rescued.

Like Jonah, our actions can sometimes cause us to feel that we have been cast out of God’s presence. We might feel that he is displeased with us and wants nothing to do with us. But no matter how alone we may feel, we are never far from God. All that is needed for us to restore a broken relationship with him is to turn away from our rebelliousness and turn back to him.

What are the things that cause you to feel far from God? Is there anything that you need to repent of in those situations?