DISTANCE NO OBSTACLE

Nothing can prevent Jehovah from having complete knowledge of his servants. No matter where they might go, God’s spirit would be active toward them. The psalmist declared: “Where can I go from your spirit, and where can I run away from your face? If I should ascend to heaven, 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.”​—Ps. 139:7-10.

Note that the psalmist spoke of God’s spirit in parallel with God’s face. Since God’s spirit or his active force can reach the remotest parts of the vast universe, no one can flee from the face of the Most High, that is, from his observation. In the time of the psalmist, going up to the heavens meant ascending the high mountains, the peaks of which are often obscured by clouds. So if a person came to be on the highest mountain peak, he would still not be out of the reach of God’s spirit. Nor would he escape from the face or observation of Jehovah by having his couch in Sheol, figuratively the lowest parts of the earth. Also, if he could “take the wings of the dawn”a and reach the most distant part in the west, he would still be subject to God’s hand or his control and direction. Jehovah, by means of his spirit, would be there to guide him.​—Compare Deuteronomy 30:12, 13; Amos 9:2, 3, where similar language appears.