My Pastor has ESP...or maybe it is God's omnipresence

This week, I have felt the need to write about Jonah--it is SO MUCH MORE than a fish story! It is an incredible story about God not allowing people to flee from His presence. When Jonah is called to preach to the city of Nineveh (Israel's number one enemy at the time), Jonah flees in the opposite direction by boarding a ship to Tarshish. God uses a fierce storm to force Jonah to confess to his shipmates his occupation (prophet of God) and to confess his disobedience by not following God's call. Jonah learns his first lesson: You cannot flee from God because God is everywhere.

Today at church, Pastor was talking about God's omnipresence--God's ability to be everywhere. As soon as he mentioned this, I immediately thought about how Jonah is an excellent example of how one man tries to flee God, only to find out there is no place where God is not present. My mind immediately goes to one of my favorite Bible passages, Psalm 139 verses 7-10, which perfectly describe God's omnipresence: "Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall your hand leads me, and Your right hand shall hold me."

As these thoughts are swirling around my head, Pastor recites Psalm 139 verses 7-10. A few minutes later, he recites the following passage, "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare, and not down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the prescence of the LORD" (Jonah 1:3). At this point, I am trying not to laugh because I am beginning to think my Pastor has ESP. But as I ponder this thought, I realize I am not hearing the message of the sermon: God is omnipresent. It is through God's great orchestration of the universe which lead me in my Bible studies this week and lead the Pastor to preach the sermon he did. It is God who is guiding us through each day. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with My eye" (Psalm 32:8).