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When we speak of God’s attribute of omnipresence, we speak of the God who in His unbounded Being fills all space. Put another way, there is not a square inch of space where God is not present. Thus, there is not a single event, from a flower blooming to a star falling, that God does not see. He is truly a God who sees all (Gen. 16:13). As time-and-space-bound creatures, we struggle with wrapping our minds around such a God; indeed, we cannot truly fathom such a Being.
The question that we must consider here is this: How should the truth that an omnipresent God sees all affect our lives? Is this just another esoteric discussion that is of interest only to theologians and philosophers with no real impact on the person in the pew? The answer is that the reality of knowing a God who sees has great bearing on our lives, our worship, and our devotion.
Genesis 16 provides for us a helpful test case to consider the omnipresent God who sees all. No doubt you will remember that Abram and Sarai have grown impatient with waiting on God to fulfill His promise to them for a child and have decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarai opts to give her Egyptian servant Hagar to Abram to bring forth a child. Much to Sarai’s frustration, the plan works, and Hagar becomes pregnant. Hagar then flees from the harsh treatment of her mistress (v. 6).
No doubt, we have all been in a position wherein unbelief brings forth sin, which in turn brings forth more sin, only to leave us alone and wondering what to do next. Sin always brings disastrous consequences. As Jesus Himself taught, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). Hagar is no doubt guilty of sin, but she is also the victim of sin, being sinned against by others. This has led to her being alone in the wilderness with nowhere to turn for help.
Yet it is here in the midst of a tumultuous situation that God shows Himself to Hagar. “The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur” (Gen. 16:7). The angel of the Lord begins by questioning her, and then moves to promise her that she, a poor servant caught in a web of destruction, will bear a seed and that her offspring will be multiplied. Hagar immediately recognizes that this is no mere angel, another created being like her. She responds to His declarations by acknowledging Him as “a God of seeing” (v. 13). Commentators have argued that this is an appearance of the preincarnate Christ, coming to this poor servant to assure her that He sees her and is going to care for her. Such is God’s mercy and providence for sinners lost on their way.
Of course, Hagar is only recognizing what is clear throughout Scripture. She is experiencing the same awe that David experienced in Psalm 139:7–8: “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!” Ultimately, there is no conflict between God’s transcendence and His immanence. God is far above all space and time, a Being unfazed and untouched by His creation. Yet He is also a God who is present everywhere, seeing and governing by His works of providence all His creatures and all their actions (Westminster Shorter Catechism 11). Jesus affirms this truth as well when He teaches that even when a sparrow falls to the ground, it does so only by the will of the Father (Matt. 10:29). No creature, according to the writer of Hebrews, is hidden from His sight (Heb. 4:13).
I once heard a story of a seminary professor who, during student sermons, would yell from the back of the class, “So what?” Seminary students can sometimes fall into the trap of wanting to wax eloquent from their theological knowledge to other students but fail to see how it applies to their hearers. We have come to the “so what” moment of this article. What does it really matter that God sees me?
Hagar has an answer for us. Notice that she responds by declaring not only that He sees but that she has now seen the One who looks after her (Gen. 16:13). Hagar recognizes that despite her being alone out in the wilderness with nowhere to run, God has seen her and is looking after her. God is not One who has rolled the cosmic dice only to sit back as an uninterested viewer of the results. Rather, He is a God who is intimately involved with His creation.
Dear believer, we have the same promise for us. God sees us and cares for us. We must bring this truth to bear on our lives so that we respond with trust, as Hagar did. Christians who rightly recognize that God sees them will be moved to a stronger faith, knowing that not a single hair will fall from our heads unless God Himself deems it so. This in turn should provoke a sense of awe and wonder, leading us to worship God for who He is, a perfect Being far beyond our understanding and capabilities.
We must also recognize, however, that God is not blind to our sin. He sees all, including that which we hope to hide. Therefore, we must not only respond with faith and worship, but we must also seek to live a holy life that is pleasing to the God who sees all. As Dr. R.C. Sproul taught us so well, we must pursue holiness as we walk coram Deo.