10 Key Bible Verses on God’s Omnipresence

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible.

1. Psalm 139:7–10

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. Read More

There is no place I can be hidden from your view. This section of Psalm 139 makes it clear that there is nowhere in the universe that God will not be present to lead and hold the believer (Psa. 139:7–10), and nowhere too dark for God to see him (Psa. 139:11–12). Some have supposed that the impulse to flee (Psa. 139:7) comes from a guilty conscience, or from a desire for independence, but this is unlikely: these verses take delight in the fact that God will “lead” him, an entirely positive benefit (Psa. 139:24; Psa. 23:3; Psa. 73:24; Psa. 143:10), and “hold” him (Ps. 73:23). There is no place where he is beyond God’s care (see Psa. 139:5).

2. 1 Kings 8:27

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Read More

will God indeed dwell on the earth? Though God will dwell in the temple (1 Kings 8:10, 13; cf. note on 1 Sam. 4:3–4), it is not to be thought of as the only place where God is, but as a special place where his name is, a place toward which his eyes are open (1 Kings 8:29; cf. Isa. 66:1–3).

3. Isaiah 66:1

Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne,
     and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
     and what is the place of my rest? Read More

The Creator cannot be walled in—not even by his own temple in Jerusalem (cf. 1 Kings 8:27; Jer. 7:8–15; John 2:19; Acts 7:44–50). The OT is constantly at pains to remind God’s people that he is greater than the institutions he has authorized, and he will not be manipulated by their use.

4. Ephesians 4:6

. . . one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Read More

over all . . . through all . . . in all. God is omnipresent (see Ps. 139:7–12; Isa. 66:1). Thus the Christian church is “one body” (Eph. 4:4), wherever its separate congregations may be found throughout the world (see Rom. 3:30)

5. Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the LORD are in every place,
     keeping watch on the evil and the good. Read More

The eyes of the LORD is a major theme in Proverbs: the Lord knows the actions and hearts of all, so he is neither pleased with nor fooled by one who offers sacrifices while continuing in the way of wickedness (Prov. 15:8–9, 11, 26, 29).

6. Acts 17:26–27

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us . . . . Read More

Feel their way toward him implies a kind of groping around in darkness, without really knowing how to find God, though they hoped that they would. The verbs translated “feel their way” and “find” are in the optative mood in Greek, suggesting possibilities considered uncertain of realization. Not far from each one of us implies God’s omnipresence and also implies that God hears people’s prayers and knows their hearts (including these philosophers in Athens). God’s providence leads people to seek God, with the goal that they might perhaps . . . find (i.e., worship) him, but all people fall short of seeking God wholeheartedly and successfully, as Rom. 1:18–3:20 teaches. Paul is being inviting here. There is a God to find, and he is not hard to find, having revealed himself to us through the story Paul prepares to tell.

7. Jeremiah 23:23–24

Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. Read More

God is always present (at hand), so he always sees sinful acts, including false prophecies.

8. Hebrews 4:13

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Read More

A warning from earlier in the chapter continues: faithless disobedience will not go unnoticed. word of God. Usually this phrase in Hebrews refers to the message of salvation (Heb. 13:7; cf. Heb. 4:2), but here the “word” is pictured as God’s personal utterance, living, active, sharp, piercing, and discerning (Heb. 4:12), with eyes that expose (Heb. 4:13). The Word of God then acts as God himself, so that one’s innermost thoughts and intentions are exposed. This happens constantly in Christians’ lives.

9. Colossians 1:17

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Read More

in him all things hold together. Christ continually sustains his creation, preventing it from falling into chaos or disintegrating (cf. Heb. 1:3).

10. Matthew 1:23

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
     and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). Read More

Matthew presents the virgin birth of Jesus as God’s miraculous fulfillment of this promise in the person of Jesus the Messiah. This brings further affirmation of the promise that God (Immanuel) will be with his disciples in every age, to empower them in their commission to “make disciples of all nations”—as Jesus reaffirms in the closing words of Matthew’s Gospel: “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (cf. Matt. 28:20).

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