Teaching God’s Omnipresence Without Moralism

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Hello, friends!

Today’s podcast question says: “How can we teach God's omnipresence—like He's always watching you—without it feeling moralistic?”

Really interesting question, and one I’m glad someone wrote in. I’ve heard a lot of people use God’s omnipresence simply as a way to teach moralism. You know, like “God is always watching you,” kind of like Santa Claus: “He sees you when you're sleeping, He knows when you're awake, He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake.”

But as Christians, we know that God is omnipresent, and we don’t want to teach this truth just to scare our children into correct behavior. So how do we teach God’s omnipresence in a biblically sound way?

That’s the question we’re going to dive into today on the Foundation Worldview Podcast, where we seek to answer your questions so that you can equip the children God has placed in your care to carefully evaluate every idea they encounter and understand the truth of the biblical worldview.

I’m your host, Elizabeth Urbanowicz, and I’m thrilled that you’ve joined me for this episode.

A Right View of Omnipresence

Now, as we think about God's omnipresence—the truth that He is everywhere and with us all the time—it can be a sobering thought when we willfully sin. However, God being present when we sin is not the main point of this characteristic.

Think about your role in your home: Are you mainly present just to police your child's behavior? Some days it might feel like that with how your child is behaving, but that’s not the ultimate goal of your presence.

You're with your child throughout the day to love them, enjoy them, correct, direct, and guide them—and it’s similar with God. He is not with us just to catch us when we do something wrong.

A Biblical Framework: Psalm 139

A good way to frame this is through the overarching tone of Psalm 139, which clearly speaks about God's omnipresence. I’m going to read verses 1 through 18. As I read, think about the tone of this passage:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

From this passage, I hope you see that God's omnipresence is both fearfully overwhelming and beautifully protective.

Yes, it brings accountability. But more than that, it gives us unshakable security.

Teaching Omnipresence in a Gospel-Centered Way

So, when we teach our children that God is omnipresent, we shouldn't say, “You should obey because God is always watching.” That’s not our motivation for obedience.

Our motivation should be a deep love for God.

For those who have taken the children in your care through our Attributes of God curriculum, you know that we teach this attribute directly. I want to walk you through how we do that, so you can do the same.

We start by showing children pictures of me in different places—one with my family at Disney World, one at the San Diego Zoo, one on a boat ride, and one at a county fair.

Then we ask:
“Could I be in all of those places at one time?”

Of course not. Humans can only be in one place at one time. We talk about how, for example, when I was at the zoo, I couldn’t also be at Disney World.

Then we ask:
“Is it the same with God? Can He only be in one place at one time?”

Scripture for Little Ones

For older kids, you can walk through all of Psalm 139:1–18.

But in the Attributes of God curriculum, for little ones, we focus on Jeremiah 23:24:

“Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth?”

We teach them to say:
“God is omnipresent. God is everywhere.”
They repeat it several times.

Then we play games like “Where am I?” using pictures and ask, “Is God there?”
The answer? Yes. God is everywhere.

Everyday Moments to Reinforce Truth

You can talk about God’s omnipresence in daily life:

• When you pray, thank Him for being present.

• In the car, say, “God is with us here and He’s already where we’re going.”

• When your child is nervous, remind them, “God is right here and already there, too.”

• After discipline, talk about how God is with us even when we sin—and still offers forgiveness through Jesus.

What an amazing truth: We can never flee from God’s presence.
He knows all we’ve done, are doing, and will do—and He still sent Jesus for us.

Final Encouragement

So, present God’s omnipresence for what it truly is:
Fearfully overwhelming and overwhelmingly beautiful.

If you haven’t taken your children through our Attributes of God curriculum, and they’re between ages 4–8, I highly recommend you check it out. We cover both incommunicable attributes (like omnipresence) and communicable ones—those God invites us to reflect as His image-bearers.

That curriculum is designed to ground children in a thoroughly biblical understanding of who God is—the God we have the privilege of knowing, loving, and serving.

If you have a question you'd like me to answer on a future episode, go to foundationworldview.com/podcast to submit it.

As we leave our time together, my prayer is that no matter what situation you and the children in your care find yourselves in, you would trust that God is working all things together for your good—using everything to conform you more into the image of His Son.

I'll see you next time.