The Forever Presence of God Among Us Always

Psalm 139 lifts up the forever presence of God, and forever is a long, long time. The Psalms often sound like somebody is letting the people of God listen in on a personal conversation between God and the soul. The Psalmist can praise God one minute and cry for justice the next, sometimes in the same breath, because life gets messy and the heart needs a place to tell the truth. God receives that kind of candid conversation because God is not a stranger. God is a long time companion, the One who knows the past and promises the future.

God created, and because God created, God knows completely. God knows the sitting down and the rising up, the walking and the talking, the lying down and the thinking. Human knowing can be real and deep, yet human knowing is still limited. God’s knowing is not like that. God is God, and the way God knows cannot be fully grasped by finite minds. The God who knitted each person together in the mother’s womb knows better than any person knows themselves.

The forever presence of God means there is no place to run where God is not already there. Psalm 139 asks, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Heaven cannot outrun God. The depths cannot hide from God. The wings of the morning and the uttermost parts of the sea still land in the place where God’s hand leads and God’s right hand holds.

The little children’s book, “Everywhere I Go, Jesus Is With Me,” gives a plain and faithful picture of that truth. In a bus, on a train, in a car, in an airplane, Jesus is with God’s people. God is present in the hospital room, in surgery, in childbirth, on the beach, in the mountains, with children returning to school, and with the lonely one sitting all alone.

God’s light also pierces the darkness. The darkness in the world and the dark crevices of the heart cannot keep God out. The Psalmist’s prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart,” becomes an act of the will, not just a feeling. God’s mercy calls for a yes to God’s will, a reorganization of life, and a future reoriented toward the Creator who knows, who is present, and who makes all things new.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God knows the whole heart God’s knowledge is not guesswork, observation, or prediction. God knows the sitting down, the rising up, the thinking, the walking, and the talking because God is the Creator. Such knowledge is too high for human minds, yet it is not cold or distant; it belongs to the God who made and loves what God knows. [42:25]
• 2. God is present in every place Psalm 139 refuses the idea that any height, depth, distance, or circumstance can escape God’s presence. The farthest sea and the darkest bed still become places where God’s hand leads and God’s right hand holds. The believer’s life is not lived outside God’s reach, even when the place feels lonely, frightening, or unknown. [46:27]
• 3. Jesus is with ordinary days The picture of “Everywhere I Go, Jesus Is With Me” brings the truth down into buses, trains, cars, airplanes, bookstores, and Friday nights. God’s presence is not reserved for church sanctuaries or dramatic moments. The same Lord is present in travel, school, hospitals, childbirth, surgery, beaches, mountains, and quiet rooms. [46:07]
• 4. God’s light exposes darkness mercifully God’s light pierces not only the darkness of the world but also the stubborn and hard headed places of the heart. The prayer “Search me, O God” is not a casual religious phrase; it is a yielded will asking mercy to tell the truth. Grace reorganizes life by turning the future back toward the God who knows and heals. [49:01]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [36:16] - Greeting Bethany at the Crossroads
• [37:28] - Psalm 139 and God’s Presence
• [38:30] - The Forever Presence of God
• [39:02] - The Psalms as Honest Conversation
• [40:39] - God Present in Life’s Messiness
• [42:25] - God Created and Knows Completely
• [44:30] - God Knows Every Coming and Going
• [46:07] - Everywhere I Go, Jesus Is With Me
• [46:27] - God Is Here, There, and Everywhere
• [47:25] - Fearfully Made in God’s Image
• [48:15] - God Present in Every Circumstance
• [49:01] - God’s Light Pierces Darkness
• [49:39] - Search Me and Lead Me
• [50:19] - Reoriented Toward the Creator

Bible Reading

Psalm 139
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 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. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,' even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” [37:28]

Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Observation questions

1. In Psalm 139, what everyday parts of life are named as things God knows—such as sitting, rising, walking, speaking, and thinking? [44:30]
2. What places does Psalm 139 mention to show that no one can get away from God’s presence? [37:49]
3. What ordinary places and life situations show up as places where Jesus is with his people? [46:07]
4. In the closing prayer of Psalm 139, what does the psalmist ask God to do in the heart and life of the believer? [49:42]

Interpretation questions

1. Psalm 139 says God knows a person completely because God created that person. How does being created by God change the way a believer understands God’s knowledge of them? [42:25]
2. The Psalms often move from praise to pain to honesty before God. What does that suggest about the kind of relationship God invites his people to have with him, especially in messy seasons of life? [40:39]
3. Psalm 139 says that even the darkness is not dark to God. How should that shape the way a believer thinks about hidden fears, private struggles, or painful circumstances? [49:01]
4. “Search me, O God” is more than a feeling; it is a yielded yes to God’s will. What does that reveal about repentance and spiritual change in the Christian life? [50:05]

Application questions

1. Where is the place in life right now where God’s presence is hardest to believe—at work, at home, in grief, in loneliness, in school, in travel, or somewhere else? What would it look like to remember there, “Even here, your hand shall lead me”? [48:15]
2. God already knows the whole heart better than a person knows himself or herself. Is that truth comforting, unsettling, or both right now? What part of life feels most important to bring honestly before God? [42:06]
3. Many people try to manage how they appear before others, and sometimes even before God. What would honest prayer sound like this week if nothing had to be cleaned up or hidden first? [41:23]
4. “Search me, O God” is a brave prayer. Is there any anxious thought, stubborn pattern, or grievous way that needs to be named before God? What makes that hard to pray honestly? [49:39]
5. God’s presence is not only for church moments but for buses, cars, airplanes, hospital rooms, beaches, mountains, and quiet rooms. In what ordinary part of the coming week does there need to be more awareness of Christ’s presence? [46:27]
6. If God’s light pierces the darkness mercifully, then being exposed by God is not meant to destroy but to heal. Where might God be shining light right now for the sake of healing and freedom? [49:01]
7. A yielded life involves a reorganization of the future toward the Creator. Is there one habit, relationship, decision, or direction that may need to be reoriented toward God’s will? [50:19]