The God of the Bible is not limited by time because He lives outside of time. Also, the God of the Bible is not limited by space because He lives outside of space. So, if, to God, every moment of time is now, then every place in the universe is here!

Omnipresence is the attribute of God that asserts that He is everywhere at once. He fills the heavens and earth with His presence. Shortly after discussing the marvels of God’s omniscience, King David proceeded to reflect upon the omnipresence of God in Psalm 139. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (verses 7–10).

In the opening words of Deuteronomy, Moses encouraged the people of Israel with a reminder of God’s omnipresence: “Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes” (Deuteronomy 1:29–30).

Have you ever considered the full impact of these words—“The LORD your God which goeth before you”? This statement asserts that you cannot go anywhere that God Himself has not already been! He fills the earth with His glorious presence, and although a pathway through a wilderness may be unknown to us, it is not unknown to God. Let’s look at a few men whose lives are recorded in the Pentateuch, men who experienced the omnipresence of God.

Jehovah went before Abraham into Canaan.

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Genesis 12:1). Abram was called to leave all that he had known and to journey across hundreds of miles of uncharted territory to settle in a land far to the west, a land that he had never seen.

In the New Testament, we read this report on Abraham’s faith: “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8).

Has God ever called you to go somewhere you have never been before? Have you ever needed to leave a secure environment and set foot into unknown circumstances? When He does call you, fear not! The Lord your God goes before you.

Jehovah went before Jacob into Padanaram.

When Jacob was forced by his brother Esau’s rage to flee from their father’s house, his mother Rebekah encouraged Jacob to go to Padanaram (in ancient Syria) and find a wife among the daughters of her brother, Laban. As Jacob journeyed away from his homeland, he came to a place called Bethel. It was there that he dreamed his remarkable dream of the ladder that ascended up to Heaven.

Facing a journey to a land he had never seen before, the Lord gave Jacob a promise, “And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” (Genesis 28:13–15).

Have difficult circumstances ever forced you into unknown territory? In Jacob’s case, it was not God’s specific call to Padanaram that led him from the Land of Promise. Rather, the set of ugly circumstances and sins, such as laziness, favoritism, deception, intrigue, anger, and revenge, caused Jacob to flee. Yet, God is still the omnipresent God. He promised to keep Jacob “in all places whither thou goest” and to “bring thee again into this land.”

If ugly circumstances have shifted your life off course, fear not! The Lord your God goes before you.

Jehovah went before Joseph into Egypt.

Joseph certainly did not plan to end up as a slave in Egypt! His youthful dreams led him to envision that one day his brothers would bow down before him. But in their hatred and cruelty, the sons of Jacob conspired against their younger brother Joseph. They sold him into the hands of Ishmaelites, traders in a Midianite caravan bound for Egypt.

The Bible records the presence of Jehovah even in Egypt. “And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian” (Genesis 39:2). Joseph’s father thought he was dead. Joseph’s brothers thought he was gone forever. But God was with Joseph in the house of Potiphar.

When Joseph was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into the prison, according to Genesis 39:21, “But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”

Have you ever felt like you were in a prison—forsaken, forgotten, and falsely accused? Fear not! The Lord your God goes before you.

The same omnipresent God Who led Abraham into Canaan, Who protected Jacob in Padanaram, and Who was with Joseph in Egypt is the same God Who announced Himself to Moses in the backside of the desert: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). Wherever the hand of the Good Shepherd may lead you in life, you can be completely confident that, as Moses reminded the Israelites, “The LORD your God goeth before you.”