by Megan Li

The boy remained before the altar, long after his master had left the tent. His mother’s call sounded faintly in the distance, reminding him of his unfinished chores. A group of his friends ran past the tent, laughing and shouting. But the boy was oblivious to all these things. His eyes were closed to the world and everything in it, for he was lost in the presence of something far greater. Many years later, the boy is now a man. He stands alone inside the tent. His master is gone, to a place he could not follow. It doesn’t feel right to be here. He doesn’t deserve to be addressed directly by God, the way his master had been. He doesn’t know how to lead his people, how to face the Canaanites, or how to be the Lord’s mouthpiece. But a voice begins to speak, and it tells him, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Christians lament that believers today are no longer able to experience God the way the Israelites could in the times of Joshua and Moses. You hardly ever hear accounts of Christians audibly hearing God’s voice, much less any sighting of a pillar of cloud or a burning bush. It is easy for believers to unconsciously feel as if God’s presence has gradually moved away from us over time. But that could not be further from the truth. Philosophers Pseudo-Dionysius, Thomas Aquinas and Edward Feser weigh in on the idea that movement and change cannot apply to God by nature, and He is every bit as present in the natural world as He was hundreds of centuries ago. Not only can His presence be closely felt through the Holy Spirit, but it can be indubitably proven. 

Not only can His presence be closely felt through the Holy Spirit, but it can be indubitably proven.

God is present in nature through the Divine Names of Being and Goodness. A Divine Name is a way through which God is intelligible to us—names that both describe God and are God Himself, according to Pseudo-Dionysius in his work, The Divine Names. All things in the natural world participate in and are sustained by Being and Goodness, and this holds profound implications for our understanding of God’s existence and for the Christian life.

All things in the natural world participate in and are sustained by Being and Goodness, and this holds profound implications for our understanding of God’s existence and for the Christian life.

Arguably the best place to begin our exploration of God’s presence in nature is through discussion of being (also known as existence or actuality). In order for anything to be, being must be present in everything that is. With being as the most universal, fundamental attribute of reality, as it is reality itself, you may suspect an integral connection between being and God. You’re in luck, because the truth actually goes beyond that—God is Being Itself. Thomas Aquinas explains in Summa Theologica that essence (what something is) and existence (that something is) are one and the same in God alone. For if something’s existence and essence are separate, their existence must either come from their essence or from an outside cause. We know that God, in order to be God, is the cause and sustainer of all things, for, as Acts 17 says, “He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else…‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’” Edward Feser argues in Five Proofs for the Existence of God that all creatures are subject to and completely dependent upon God, with Him having united existence with their essences (but sadly not for unicorns…yet). Since God is the first, efficient cause, and therefore cannot participate dependently in Being in order to exist, God must be His very own existence, which is another way to say, God is (essence) Being (existence) Itself. This statement is also true through the principle of proportionate causality, which Feser explains is that whatever is in an effect must exist in its cause in some way, for “a cause cannot give what it does not have to give.” Since God is the source of all things and the reason they exist in a particular form or pattern, all of reality must pre-exist virtually and eminently within Himself, spanning everything that exists or could exist. As Pseudo-Dionysius poetically puts it, “([God] is called) king of what is eternal, for it has subsisted all being and be-ing in it and about it.”

Since God is the source of all things and the reason they exist in a particular form or pattern, all of reality must pre-exist virtually and eminently within Himself, spanning everything that exists or could exist.

Since God is Being, and all things must continually participate in Him to be, the nature of His presence in reality can be seen everywhere. In any existing, actualized thing, whether it be President Arnn, Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme, or a sock, God is there by nature of His essence, which encompasses all existence. Professor of Theology John M. Frame connects God’s omnipresence to His omnipotence and omniscience. In his article, “The Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God,” he writes: “If every event, everywhere, takes place by God’s power, and if he has exhaustive knowledge of everything his power has brought to pass, then certainly he is not absent, but present in each event.” God’s presence is the strongest, realest thing we could ever experience, for we do so at every moment, just by existing. The wonders and miracles of being can oftentimes be lost on us in the mundane hustle and bustle of life, but its awe-inspiring beauty still finds ways of slipping through. I recall the day in first grade at Tall Oaks Classical School when my class became eyewitnesses to the transformation of several caterpillars into monarch butterflies. Such miracles are seen still in seedlings that unfurl into stunning flowers and the birth of a human being made in the Image of God. Singer George Strait describes the feeling in his song, “I Saw God Today”: “His fingerprints are everywhere. I just slowed down to stop and stare…My brand new baby girl, she’s a miracle. I saw God today.”

God’s presence is the strongest, realest thing we could ever experience, for we do so at every moment, just by existing.

The presence of God in the beauty of life brings us to the next Divine Name: Goodness. Before we begin, it is necessary to explain that Goodness and Being are, in fact, the same thing. Thomas Aquinas defines Goodness this way: “The essence of goodness consists in this, that it is in some way desirable. Hence the Philosopher says: ‘Goodness is what all desire.’” Desirability comes hand-in-hand with perfection, for the more perfect a thing is, the more we desire it. But perfection, according to Thomas Aquinas, is joined with actuality. Perfection can be called the fullness of existence, shown in the way you would call a functioning oven more perfect than a broken oven and even more perfect than a nonexistent oven. Therefore, a thing is perfect insofar as it has being and exists, showing Being and Goodness to be one and the same in God. However, the Divine Name of Goodness is different in the sense that it shows God’s presence through the aspect of desirability. For Pseudo-Dionysius, Goodness can be called Light in its beautifying power that illuminates reality, showing God to be the delighting purpose for which all things strive and in which all things unite. Psalm 139 describes the implications of this beautifully: “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.” Pseudo-Dionysius writes that just as straight lines that shoot out of the center of a circle draw closer together the nearer they are to the center, so do all beings draw closer to God in the uniting power of Goodness. By doing so, they further participate in Being and exist more fully. 

Now that we have illustrated the existence and nature of Goodness, we can further explore its presence in our world through the outlet of beauty. Pseudo-Dionysius writes in The Divine Names: “for [Beauty] gives beauty from itself in a manner appropriate to each, it causes the consonance and splendor of all, it flashes forth upon all, after the manner of light, the beauty producing gifts of its flowing ray, it calls all to itself.” Beauty when beheld can be characterized as “[pleasing] the mind by a certain kind of fittingness,” according to Dr. Jonathan King in an article called “How Can I see the Beauty of God?.” Beauty was imprinted into reality from the beginning, shown by the word κόσμος (cosmos) in the Septuagint, the Greek meaning of which implies an ordered, adorned arrangement. King’s explanation isn’t hard to believe when one beholds a faraway expanse of mist-shrouded mountains or the sun setting over a shining sea. King adds, “The beauty of God ad extra [outwardly] as it is perceived and experienced by human beings is what most clearly evinces [or displays] that perfection of beatitude and sense of delight that belongs to the Trinity ad intra [inwardly].” Such beauty moves us, stills us, and unites us in our capacity to love, which Pseudo-Dionysius calls a “unifying, binding, and joining” power. Such delight is an end unto itself, hinting at the everlasting, internal life within the Trinity and the fullness of its glory and self-satisfaction. When we delight in such beauty, we can experience God’s presence not just in the natural world around us, but within our very souls. In this way, David praises God in Psalm 21: “For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.”

But some may disagree with the idea that God can be present in the natural world at all. Deism, a major Enlightenment idea explained by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, argues that we can know a supreme, intelligent creator and governor of the universe through reason, but this being does not interfere with creation, despite having a plan for it since the beginning. However, Deism acknowledges the transcendence (supremacy) of God, which inherently contradicts its conclusion. The Bible contains proof of God’s divine incomprehensibility and mystery, showing that He is above us in every way possible since He is Being and Goodness itself. In that sense, He lords over all creation as king of all existence, as shown in John M. Frame’s definition of transcendence: “God’s lordship over his world with particular reference to his royal prerogatives of control and authority.” These two terms show the might (causing, sustaining, and authorizing power) and the right (standard of truth) of God, a testimony to the fullness of His Lordship in the world, and by nature, His presence. Frame concludes, “Since [God’s] transcendence governs all the events of creation and his authority governs all his creatures, he is certainly the most visible being in the universe.”

Although the days when God would communicate with His people directly have passed, He has given us the great gift of Immanuel (literally meaning “God with us”) as a pure, direct manifestation of His presence.

Despite the widespread belief that God exists outside of His creation, we have seen that God is present through Being and Goodness in nature, within which every being must participate in order to exist and through which we may see and desire God in His glory. Although the days when God would communicate with His people directly have passed, He has given us the great gift of Immanuel (literally meaning “God with us”) as a pure, direct manifestation of His presence. John 1:14 tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” God’s promise to always be with His people, mentioned countless times in the Bible, enables and exhorts us to carry out the Great Commission and show forth the glory of God to all the nations. In his sermon, “The Presence of God: A Key to Healings and Miracles,” Pastor Jim Feeley adds, “As God’s presence enabled Moses and Joshua and other Old Testament heroes to do great works for the Lord, so shall His presence enable us today.” As Image-bearers, we are endowed with these capacities, according to Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, for we are the most participated, most actualized beings in nature through our similitude to God. In short, there is no better place to look for God’s presence in nature than in the mirror. How cool is that?

As Image-bearers, we are endowed with these capacities, according to Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, for we are the most participated, most actualized beings in nature through our similitude to God. In short, there is no better place to look for God’s presence in nature than in the mirror.

Megan Li is a freshman interested in studying economics, journalism, and psychology.