Below is a section adapted from my sermon preached on Psalm 139:1–16, titled, The Presence of God, on 5/8/22. For the full sermon, click here . The historic Christian tradition has understood that God’s presence is two-fold:[1] as it pertains to his intimate relations between he and his people, where he dwells in the hearts of his covenant community, this kind of presence is termed inner sphere or received indwelling in the believer, and his presence to everything he has made as the giver, sustainer, and determiner of life, his outer sphere or his objective presence . Summarizing Thomas Aquinas, he says, God [as Spirit] is in all things by his essence, power, and presence . . . whereby he causes things to exist and continues their existing by his power, as they continue living and sharing in his goodness. . . . God not only exists in the creature, but he also dwells within them as in His own temple.[2] There are two spheres of presence that we...