My Presence Shall Go With Thee

Written by Duncan Sinclair, June 20, 1925

One of the most interesting and remarkable things to be noted about the seers of the Old Testament is their consciousness of the presence of God. It is undoubtedly true that the national concept of God was a limited one; but it is equally certain that some of the Hebrew prophets had at times an extraordinarily vivid realization of the presence and power of God, and were able accordingly to do wondrous things,—wondrous in the eyes of those whose consciousness was less spiritual. And what peace must have accompanied that realization! One thinks of the occasion, for example, when Moses in difficulty prayed to God for His presence, and when, as it is written in the thirty-third chapter of Exodus, God assured him, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."

The Psalms contain many a reference to the presence, yea, to the omnipresence of God. How graphically is this omnipresence depicted in the words of the psalm: "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,"—meaning, surely, that God is everywhere. And the following are David's words in his psalm of thanksgiving, recorded in I Chronicles: "Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place." The comfort which the Old Testament has brought to so many of the children of men has been the direct result of the truth contained therein, that God is not a God afar off but the Holy One, whose presence is in their very midst.

As in the Old, so in the New Testament, God is acknowledged as being among His people. Christ Jesus lived and acted as always in the presence of the Father. He completely identified himself with God, stating that he could do nothing of himself, and that it was God who did the works; thereby testifying to the ever-presence of God. It was similar with the disciples, those who had been his students. They thought and acted as men who were convinced that God's presence with them was demonstrably true, healing the sick and sinning through their understanding.

One of the features which characterize those who have taken up the study of Christian Science understandingly is that they are absolutely certain of the presence of God with them. And this conviction is based on teaching which is contained in the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. From the beginning to the end of the textbook of Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the allness of God may be said to be the theme. Throughout, God is declared to be All-in-all, and His presence affirmed to be the only real presence. The effort of Christian Science is to bring home to human consciousness the truth of God's allness, to inspire men with love to the perfect spiritual Being who is their Father, and thereby to enable them to identify their true selves with God. And exactly in the proportion that the truth of God's—Spirit's—omnipresence is realized, matter is seen to be an illusion of material sense, without real presence and without real power. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 223 of Science and Health: "Matter does not express Spirit. God is infinite omnipresent Spirit. If Spirit is all and is everywhere, what and where is matter?"

Nothing is of greater value than to know of God's omnipresence; for to know that God is omnipresent is to be conscious that Life and Love and Truth and good are ever with us, and, consequently, that the supposititious opposites of Life, Love, Truth, and good are not in reality present anywhere. It is this consciousness of the omnipresence of God, good, which destroys the beliefs of sickness and sin, those false beliefs which so grievously torment the human race. Whosoever would be healed of these enemies to happiness and peace must strive to realize the allness of God's presence, by affirming and reaffirming the truth with persistency and with assurance, keeping before the thought Mrs. Eddy's words in Science and Health (p. 473): "The God-principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power."

If we are concerned with problems of a more general nature, our attitude should be the same. Evil may be trying hard to convince us, through suggestion, that it is real. Its tumult may seem to be heard on every side. But what of that; is not God in the midst of us? Is not God, good, omnipresent; and has not Christian Science revealed to us the utter unreality of evil? Then let us affirm and realize the truth, thereby destroying the false evidence of material sense which would convince us that evil is real. How heartening are our Leader's words (Science and Health, p. 331): "God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else."