We pause over the deep implication of this psalm: God is present all the time and everywhere. The psalmist expresses that implication in personal terms: God knows everything about us. On the larger scale of the whole universe, there isn’t any place where God is not present. To the psalmist that means especially that God is deeply, personally present to each of us. That isn’t so easy for us to understand, much less to accept. Can the God of this vast universe know each of us and care for each of us?

The psalmist writes a long time before modern cosmology began to discover the incredible immensity of the universe. Reputable scientists agree that there are at least a trillion galaxies in the universe, each (like our own Milky Way) holding millions of stars and who-knows-how-many planets. The psalmist couldn’t know these numbers, but even in the ancient world, the immensity of creation is wonderfully evident. The psalmist’s faith in God’s intimate presence to each and every human being is deeply rooted in the psalmist’s wonder at the vastness of creation.

When we affirm our faith in God’s presence with each of us, we are all the more aware of the sheer grandeur of God. How can the God of all that is be so present to each of us? Theologian Paul Tillich reminds us that God is not just one “thing” among others. God, he writes, is the “ground of all being.” God is involved in everything. The intimate presence of God means all the more in light of the grandeur of God. We are invited to see the loving presence of God and to respond to God’s ubiquitous and intimate presence.