Do you know “Where God Ain’t?”

When we read John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”; we often focus on the elements and doctrine of our modern worship services. And this premise is used for the foundation of the authorized worship within the Lord’s church. However, after reading the anonymous poem below, another view of this Scripture is apparent.

Where God Ain’t
He was just a little lad,
And on the week’s first day,
Was wandering home from Sunday School,
And dawdling along the way.
He scuffed his shoes into the grass;
He found a caterpillar;
He found a fluffy milkweed pod,
And flew out all the filler.
A bird’s nest in a tree o’head
So wisely placed and high,
Was just another wonder
That caught his eager eye.
A neighbor watched his zigzag course,
And hailed him from the lawn;
Asked him where he’d been that day,
And what was going on.
“Oh, I’ve been to Sunday School.
(He carefully turned a sod
And found a snail beneath it);
I’ve learned a lot about God.”
“M’m’m, a very fine way,” the neighbor said,
“For a boy to spend his time;
If you’ll tell me where God is,
I’ll give you a brand new dime.”
Quick as a flash his answer came!
Nor were his accents faint-
“I’ll give you a dollar, Mister,
If you tell me where God ain’t.”

Now we see that from this young lad’s observation, he has deduced that “God is everywhere”. From the examination of the original, God is a Spirit (pneuma ho theos). More precisely, “God is Spirit” as “God is Light” (1John 1:5), “God is Love” (1John 4:8). In neither case can we read Spirit is God, Light is God, Love is God. The non-corporeality of God is clearly stated and the personality of God also. All this is put in three words for the first time. Since God is a Spirit, He is omnipresent and everywhere.

In John 14:6 we read, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” In this passage Jesus tells us that He is Truth. And we are told in John 14:20 by Jesus, “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”

Where we have lost the context of the original passage is not the understanding of the elements of Spirit and Truth, but however the importance of the word in the original Must (dei). Here is the real necessity (dei), not the one used by the woman about the right place of worship (John 4:20).

So let us reexamine John 4:24, and insert what we have learned. God is Spirit ( He is everywhere. So everywhere we are in worship to God), and those who worship (that is us, His children) Him must (this is a command, not a suggestion) worship in spirit (everywhere, all the time) and in truth (which is His Son Jesus Christ who is within us). Therefore, everything we say and do must be in worship to God, and for the honor and glory of His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ. So I ask just as the little boy did, “Can you tell me where God ain’t?”