Jeremiah 23:24 (MSG) “Am I not a God near at hand”—“and not a God far off? Can anyone hide out in a corner where I can’t see him?”. “Am I not present everywhere, whether seen or unseen?” 

Have you ever had anyone who held a place of significance in your life die? Someone who would be affected by the things you do, such as, a mother who would scold you when you did wrong. Someone who you held in very high esteem and who would be very disappointed if they knew you were going contrary to the things they taught you? Have you ever stopped and wondered if the dead’s spirit was moving around, seeing and hearing your every move? Would this keep you on the straight and narrow if you knew that quite possibly they were aware of everything you did? Would you act differently?

I was prompted to put thought into this because I was privy to a conversation of someone who placed greater importance on his Mother (now deceased) being with him, knowing all of what was taking place in his life over his thought of what God would think about his actions.

I asked the question, why would you feel worse if your mother knew you were doing wrong over what God thought. The response was that God does not think like man, God does not feel the disappointment that Man feels, that God does not judge us the way that man does.

This got me thinking, if many of us thought this way even though we know there is nothing we can hide from God because he is everywhere, then what is the implication of that. As much as there is truth to the responses given; is it possible that we are taking God for granted? How many of us behave and act in sin because we know there is free and unreserved forgiveness of sin?

This last question could be the “marker” that we use to determine how far we are in our walk with God. It could help us to know whether we have a real or a by-the-way relationship with God. The question could help us to determine whether we are walking and living in the spirit. This marker could help us to discover if we are living the life that God requires of us to experience eternal life. The Bible tells us in Matthew 7:21-22 (NIV) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord.  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Hopefully this will happen to no one, but that we will seek the Lord, having no desire to sin. We will always be aware that as the bible says in Jeremiah 23:24 that “Am I not a God near at hand-and not a God far off? Can anyone hide out in a corner where I can’t see him? Am I not present everywhere, whether seen or unseen?” Then, we will KNOW, that God’s presence is near and requires our fear of him translated in our actions. Then, we will APPRECIATE, God’s goodness rather than take him for granted. We will not attach more importance to the dead over God who we know for sure lives and is with us at all times. A God who is never absent from our lives and is working all things together for our good.