With God Where He Is

There's a psalm in the Bible that to me beautifully portrays man's inseparability from God. ``Whither shall I flee from thy presence?'' it asks. It also proclaims: ``There is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether'' (139:4, 7). I feel the Psalmist is saying that however close we may think of as the closest anyone or anything can get to us, God, divine Spirit, is closer still.

I have loved this psalm for some time, have felt comforted by it, and have certainly allayed my own fears of separation from God by gaining some understanding of it. Yet recently it took on a still deeper meaning for me. I had always accepted that the psalm presents the inseparability of man from God. I suddenly glimpsed that I was interpreting this to mean that God is always with us, where each of us is. That's true enough, as far as it goes. But what dawned on me recently was a still deeper implication of God's closeness: in order truly to be inseparable from God, man has to be where God is! The fact of man's inseparability from God doesncould never--drag divinity down to earth, but instead lifts us up to perceive the heavenly realm of the real, the spiritual harmony that is divinity's eternal abode.

This true vision of man's oneness with his divine creator shows that God bestows on man a wholly spiritual nature. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy--who discovered and founded the vital, healing religion Christian Science--writes: ``The spiritual man's consciousness and individuality are reflections of God. They are the emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love'' (p. 336). That's how close we are to God. Our very thought, our very being, in reality, derives directly from the divine Mind, God, and fully expresses Him. We are not little minds trying to reach up to Him. We are His very expression of His infinite, unfettered intelligence and understanding.

Of course, these truths do translate to an available sense of God's presence with us in our everyday experience. As we recognize our true place in God's reality, fears are vanquished by the conviction of divine Love's authority. This results in healing. Yet God, Spirit, isn't coming to matter or to mortal thought. He can't, since His presence destroys any seeming materialism. The lie of life and intelligence in matter, the error of mortal thought, gives way to the light of true, spiritual consciousness. Christ--the light of divine understanding through which Christ Jesus did all his marvelous works of healing--lifts our thoughts to God's presence, and we are comforted and restored.

In my own experience I am daily helped by the prayerful recognition that my need is not to try and drag God down to me, but to recognize the reality of divine Life. When I sensibly perceive that divine Love is embracing me precisely because the reality is that Spirit, God, is the only presence, I find happiness, purpose, and a kinder, more thoughtful outlook restored within myself. On the other hand, losing sight of this true perspective of man's place within God's sphere makes these divinely natural qualities seem absent.

Prayerfully glimpsing our inseparability from God, held fast in His universe of good, lets in shafts of healing light to leaven and lighten our experience. Then we can say to God with the Psalmist's words: ``Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways'' (Psalms 139:3). This is verified as our pathway is improved and our anxiety lifts through the acknowledgment and perception that we live eternally with God where He is, in heaven.

BIBLE VERSE The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:20, 21