In the Bible we read that Job, reaching out for God, said (23:3), "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!" In these words there is to be found the deep-seated yearning of mankind. In the hour of stress and sorrow and in the moment of joy and triumph there is an innermost reaching out for the divine presence that will give succor and peace. The writer of the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm perceived the omnipresence of God and declared his conviction when he said (verses 8-10): "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
Mary Baker Eddy writes in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 471), "God is infinite, therefore ever present, and there is no other power nor presence." Christian Science teaches us that since God is infinite, He is without beginning and without end. He fills all space, for He is without limitation. As thought dwells on this stupendous verity— the everywhereness of God—one realizes that he must always be in the presence of God and that there is no escape from that presence. Then we ask: "Just what is in the presence of God? Is evil, sickness, death, or sorrow?" How could such harassments exist in infinite Spirit, divine Love?
In the first chapter of Genesis we read that God created man in His own image and after His likeness. Man, then, is the reflection of God. Where the reflection is, the original must be. Therefore the fact that man is present is the evidence that God is present. The fact that God, perfect creator, is present is the proof that man is present as perfect creation. In the presence of God are to be found loveliness, goodness, joy, peace, purity, life, all the myriad manifestations of God, divine Love. Because God is ever present and everywhere present there is no room for the opposite of these qualities, such as ugliness, hate, sorrow, strife, sin, and death. These are emanations of a so-called opposite source, named devil or the carnal mind; and since there is in truth no such source, they are really nonexistent and may be called illusions. Illusion is that which has no entity, no being, but only seems to be, just as a mirage seems to be, but is not.
