Thomas Brooks wants us to contemplate an aspect of the nature of God, that is, that He is Omnipresent. Meaning, that God is everywhere present, all of time. Have you ever given thought to this aspect of God? If so, have you overlaid His omnipresence onto the subject of prayer? We are familiar with the term, “shock and awe,” right? When I consider that God is omnipresent and its application in my prayers, and while in private prayer with Him, it is brings “shock and awe” to my soul. There is good reason why it does, and Brooks brings the “why” out clearly and beautifully.
A couple of thoughts:
- I initially attempted to give a snippet from Brooks’ writing on this, but it is too rich. It would have been like giving you only one bite out of an oatmeal cookie. Specifically, only one bite out of my famous home-made (secret recipe) oatmeal cookies. But … this is not a cookie blog so we won’t go down that path. Hummm, that’s an idea.
- There are a number of great phrases that stand out in Brooks’ teaching that feed the mind and heart, and I don’t want you to miss any of them.
- Brooks references a number of scriptures to support the omnipresence of God, here are some of them:
Jer. 16:17; Job 34:21; Prov. 5:21; Jer. 32:19; Rev. 2:23; Lam. 3:56.
Enjoy.
Consider that God is omnipresent.1 We cannot get into any blind hole, or dark corner, or secret place, but the Lord hath an eye there, the Lord will keep us company there: Mat. 6:6, ‘And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.’ So ver. 18. There is not the darkest, dirtiest hole in the world into which a saint creeps, but God hath a favourable eye there. God never wants an eye to see our secret tears, nor an ear to hear our secret cries and groans, nor a heart to grant our secret requests, and therefore we ought to pour out our souls to him in secret: Ps. 38:9, ‘Lord! all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.’
Though our private desires are never so confused, though our private requests are never so broken, and though our private groanings are never so much hidden from men, yet God eyes them all, God records them all, and God puts them all upon the file of heaven, and will one day crown them with glorious answers and returns. We cannot sigh out a prayer in secret, but he sees us; we cannot lift up our eyes to him at midnight, but he observes us.
The eye that God hath upon his people when they are in secret, is such a special tender eye of love, as opens his ear, his heart, and his hand, for their good: 1 Peter 3:12, ‘For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers;’ or, as the Greek hath it, ‘his ears are unto their prayers.’ If their prayers are so faint, that they cannot reach up as high as heaven, then God will bow the heavens and come down to their prayers.3 God’s eye is upon every secret sigh, and every secret groan, and every secret tear, and every secret desire, and every secret pant of love, and every secret breathing of soul, and every secret melting and working of heart; all which should encourage us to be much in secret duties, in closet services.
As a Christian is never out of the reach of God’s hand, so he is never out of the view of God’s eye. If a Christian cannot hide himself from the sun, which is God’s minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide himself from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun? In every private duty, a Christian is still under the eye of God’s omnisciency. When we are in the darkest hole, God hath windows into our breasts, and observes all the secret actings of our inward man, 1 Tim. 2:8. The eye of God is not confined to this place or that, to this company or that; God hath an eye upon his people as well when they are alone, as when they are among a multitude; as well when they are in a corner, as when they are in a crowd. Diana’s temple was burnt down when she was busy at Alexander’s birth, and could not be at two places together. But God is present both in paradise and in the wilderness, both in the family and in the closet, both in public and in private at the same time. God is an omnipresent God; he is everywhere. Non est ubi, ubi non est Deus.
As he is included in no place, so he is excluded from no place: Jer. 23:24, ‘Can any man hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him, saith the Lord?’ Prov. 15:3, ‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good,’ or, ‘contemplating the evil and the good,’ as the Hebrew may be read. Now, to contemplate, is more than simply to behold; for contemplation addeth to a simple apprehension a deeper degree of knowledge, entering into the very inside of a matter; and so indeed doth God discern the very inward intentions of the heart, and the most secret motions of the spirit. God is an infinite and immense being, whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere. Now, if our God be omnipresent, then wheresoever we are, our God is present with us: if we are in prison alone with Joseph, our God is present with us there; or if we are in exile alone with David, our God is present with us there; or if we are alone in our closets, our God is present with us there. God seeth us in secret; and therefore let us seek his face in secret. Though heaven be God’s palace, yet it is not his prison.
I love the line that reminds us of His infinite nature: “God is an infinite and immense being, whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere.”
This line reminds us that our God is not distant and kept in heaven away from us: “Though heaven be God’s palace, yet it is not his prison.”
Maybe it’s only me, but being mindful of His omnipresence in prayer is like manna to my soul. There are times when I feel weak and the heavens seem a million miles away, but God is ever-present … intimately with me! My feelings do not negate who God is and where He is.
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Brooks, T. (1866). The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks. (A. B. Grosart, Ed.) (Vol. 2, pp. 191–192). Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert.
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