7Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
English standard version
7Where can I escape from your spirit, And where can I run away from your face? 8If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there, And if I were to make my bed in the Grave, look! you would be there. 9If I would fly away with the wings of the dawn To reside by the most remote sea, 10Even there your hand would lead me And your right hand would take hold of me. 11If I say: “Surely darkness will conceal me!” Then the night around me would become light. 12Even the darkness would not be too dark for you, But night would be as bright as the day; Darkness is the same as light to you.
New world translation
Contents:
Watchtower teachings surrounding this passage.
Watchtower teaching on this text.
Response to the Watchtower’s teaching on this text.
Other evangelical teachings on this text:
Watchtower teachings surrounding this passage:
First, the watchtower denies that God Himself is omnipresent (everywhere at once and at all times) [see quotation directly below]. Second, the watchtower says that “holy spirit” is God’s active force, not God Himself, and therefore through God’s active force the realities in these verses can be said of Him [see the second, third, and fourth quotations directly below].
However, the Bible does not teach that God is omnipresent—that is, present everywhere, in all things. Instead, it shows that he is a person and that he resides in a dwelling place.
God’s holy spirit, or active force, is God’s power in action. Through his holy spirit, God can perceive and do anything, anywhere, at any time, without being present in person.
Note that David first asked: “Where can I go from your spirit?” By means of his holy spirit, God can see anything and exert his power anywhere, without literally going there or dwelling there.
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Yes, Jehovah’s powerful active force, or holy spirit, can extend anywhere, allowing him to be all-seeing and to accomplish his purpose from a fixed location, his “holy dwelling” in the heavens.
To understand the pervasive effect of God’s holy spirit, picture the sun. It is at a specific location but distributes energy to a vast portion of the earth. Similarly, Jehovah God has a place of dwelling. But he can perform whatever his will is anywhere in the universe. Furthermore, Jehovah can use his holy spirit to perceive what is happening anywhere and at any time.
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The Bible therefore indicates that there is no need for Jehovah God literally to be everywhere. Through the operation of his holy spirit and through his angelic forces, he is able to be fully aware of what is happening with regard to his creation.
The Watchtower teaches that God is not present with us wherever we go, but that He can be active wherever we are for our good [see the first quotation directly below, as well as “10” and “14” in the second quotation]. The Watchtower interprets God’s “presence” or “face” as His observation of things or persons, but His actual presence with them [see last quotation below].
Misconception: Psalm 139:8 teaches that God is omnipresent by saying: “If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there, and if I were to make my bed in the Grave, look! you would be there.”
Fact: This scripture is not talking about God’s location. It poetically teaches that no place is too remote for God to act in our behalf.
10 Viewing Jehovah’s loving care from another standpoint, the psalmist continues: “Where can I go from your spirit, and where can I run away from your face?” He had no desire to try to get away from Jehovah; rather, he knew that wherever he might be, Jehovah would know and, by holy spirit, could help him. “If I should ascend to heaven,” he continued, “there you would be; and if I should spread out my couch in Sheol, look! you would be there. Were I to take the wings of the dawn, that I might reside in the most remote sea, there, also, your own hand would lead me and your right hand would lay hold of me. And were I to say: ‘Surely darkness itself will hastily seize me!’ then night would be light about me. Even the darkness itself would not prove too dark for you, but night itself would shine just as the day does; the darkness might just as well be the light.” (Psalm 139:7-12) There is nowhere that we might go, no circumstance that we might face, that would put us beyond Jehovah’s view or beyond the reach of his spirit to help us.
11 At one point the prophet Jonah lost sight of that. Jehovah had assigned him to preach to the people of Nineveh. For some reason he felt that he could not handle that assignment. Perhaps because of the fierce reputation of the Assyrians, the thought of serving in Nineveh frightened Jonah. So he tried to drop out of sight. At the seaport of Joppa, he obtained passage on a ship bound for Tarshish (generally associated with Spain, over 2,200 miles [3,500 km] west of Nineveh). Nevertheless, Jehovah saw him board the ship and go to sleep down in the hold. God also knew where Jonah was when he was later thrown overboard, and Jehovah heard Jonah when he promised from within the belly of the big fish that he would pay his vows. Delivered back to dry land, Jonah was again given an opportunity to fulfill his assignment.—Jonah 1:3, 17; 2:1–3:4.
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14 The prophetic words of Psalm 139:7-12 do not mean that God is omnipresent, that he is personally present in all places at all times. The Scriptures clearly show otherwise. (Deuteronomy 26:15; Hebrews 9:24) Yet, his servants are never beyond his reach. That is true of those whose theocratic assignments have taken them to distant places. It was true of loyal Witnesses in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and it was true of the missionaries held in solitary confinement in China during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. It was true of our dear brothers and sisters in a Central African country who had to flee repeatedly from their villages, even from the country. If need be, Jehovah can reach right into Sheol, the common grave, and bring faithful ones back by means of a resurrection.—Job 14:13-15; Luke 20:37, 38.
The psalmist knew that he could not escape Jehovah’s spirit, or active force, which can reach even the remotest parts of the universe. And nobody can flee from God’s face, that is, escape his observation. True, “Jonah proceeded to get up and run away to Tarshish from before Jehovah,” but that prophet could not elude either the great fish that God appointed to swallow him or accountability for his divine assignment. (Jonah 1:3, 17; 2:10–3:4) So let us rely on Jehovah’s spirit to enable us to fulfill God-given assignments.—Zechariah 4:6.
Response to the Watchtower’s teaching on this text:
We should have this as our chief goal when engaging the Witnesses with this text: the Holy Spirit is God. How do we do this in light of their teaching? One could interpret the Psalm in context, and point to the personal nature of this Psalm. While that would be a valiant approach, against those who have an entirely different approach and when you have limited time, I advise against this (especially in light of evangelical differences over the exact interpretation of this Psalm [see the section “Other evangelical teaching on this text”]. The key point to make in this is that God is everywhere by means of His Spirit. They should agree with this, though they will likely make clear that they only see it as referring to God seeing everything everywhere.
From there you have two options. Go to Jeremiah 23:23-24, or the Book of Jonah. I will walk through both approaches below:
Jeremiah Approach:
Jeremiah 23:23-24 ESV
23“Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? 24Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:23-24 NWT [Note: I have kept the “+” that is included in the NWT on the official watchtower website because it directly references Psalm 139:7 from Jeremiah 23:24].
23“Am I only a God nearby,” declares Jehovah, “and not a God also from far away?”
24“Can any man hide in a concealed place where I cannot see him?” declares Jehovah.
“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” + declares Jehovah.
Ask the JW you are having a conversation with what God means when He asks rhetorically “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” If they say that it is by means of “holy spirit” as His “active force” that Jehovah does this, ask how it is that Jeremiah says that He fills the heavens and the earth if this is to be interpreted in light of the way they understand Psalm 139 to be referring only to God’s observation. Wouldn’t a more natural reading be to read presence in both Psalm 139 and here in Jeremiah 23:24? If God fills the heavens and the earth, i.e., is omnipresent, doesn’t it make sense to understand that as the basis of His all-knowing in Psalm 139? And if Jeremiah 23:24 says that Jehovah is personally omnipresent, and the watchtower directly connects this verse to Psalm 139:7, and there the Spirit is how God is present everywhere, doesn’t it follow that the Holy Spirit is God in a personal (not just an active) way?
Jonah Approach [this is purely for your own sakes, and not to use in actual conversation, as the argument is too in-depth]:
The watchtower claims that Jonah was escaping doing what God wanted him to do. That Jonah was escaping God’s presence, but could not escape his observation or ability to bring Jonah back [see the last quote in the section “The Watchtower’s teaching on this text”]. However, in Jonah 2:4 and 7 we see that Jonah
Not just declaring truth, but deeply personal – see verses 1-4.
God’s Personal omnipresence – see verses 7-12.
A sense of pursuit – “His everywhere-ness is His pursuit of us.”
God’s omnipotence – see verses 15-16.
God’s personal plan for “me”
Quotes from the Treasury of David, by Charles Spurgeon:
Go from him, or flee from him we cannot: neither by patient travel nor by hasty flight can we withdraw from the all surrounding Deity. His mind is in our mind; himself within ourselves. His spirit is over our spirit; our presence is ever in his presence.
~ Verse 7
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. Filling the loftiest region with his yet loftier presence, Jehovah is in the heavenly place, at home, upon his throne. . . . Descending into the lowest imaginable depths among the dead, there should we find the Lord. . . . Two regions, the one of glory and the other of darkness, are set in contrast, and this one fact is asserted of both —”thou art there.” Whether we rise up or lie down, take our wing or make our bed, we shall find God near us. A “behold” is added to the second clause, since it seems more a wonder to meet with God in hell than in heaven, in Hades than in Paradise. Of course the presence of God produces very different effects in these places, but it is unquestionably in each; the bliss of one, the terror of the other.
~ verse 8
Were we to speed on the wings of the morning breeze, and break into oceans unknown to chart and map, yet there we should find the Lord already present. He who saves to the uttermost would be with us in the uttermost parts of the sea.
~ Verse 9
Yet the ungodly are still duped by their grovelling notions of God, and enquire, “How doth God know?” They must fancy that he is as limited in his powers of observation as they are, and yet if they would but consider for a moment they would conclude that he who could not see in the dark could not be God, and he who is not present everywhere could not be the Almighty Creator. Assuredly God is in all places, at all times, and nothing can by any possibility be kept away from his all observing, all comprehending mind. The Great Spirit comprehends within himself all time and space, and yet he is infinitely greater than these, or aught else that he has made.
~ Verse 12
John Calvin takes a position on this text that appears at first to be much closer to that of the JWs than Spurgeon:
By the Spirit of God we are not here, as in several other parts of Scripture, to conceive of his power merely, but his understanding and knowledge. In man the spirit is the seat of intelligence, and so it is here in reference to God, as is plain from the second part of the sentence, where by the face of God is meant his knowledge or inspection. David means in short that he could not change from one place to another without God seeing him, and following him with his eyes as he moved. They misapply the passage who adduce it as a proof of the immensity of God’s essence; for though it be an undoubted truth that the glory of the Lord fills heaven and earth, this was not at present in the view of the Psalmist, but the truth that God’s eye penetrates heaven and hell, so that, hide in what obscure corner of the world he might, he must be discovered by him . . . And the idea is, that though one should fly with the speed of light, he could find no recess where he would be beyond the reach of divine power.
~ Verse 7
I think Calvin is mistaken in interpreting the tenure of the Psalm, and therefore misinterprets it’s parts. I would point to Leslie Allen:
Some postulate that a consciousness of his own sin made him want to escape, but this misunderstands the whole psalm. Rather, the text is an implicit protestation of innocence: the psalmist appeals to God’s closeness to him to back up his alibi, as it were [note verses 17-22]. One must not confuse this passage with Amos 9:2–4, which treats the motif of human inescapability from God in a way similar to that of vv 7–10, rhetorically instancing contrasted areas to build up an impression of the inevitability of punishment for sin. There the “Hound of heaven” pursues fugitives from justice. Here the perspective is different: the psalmist, wherever he went, would find himself confronted with a God who was already there. As a human being he can be at only one place in the world at once, but he finds God everywhere.
Standing Before God, This We Are and No More 