“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” — Genesis 28:16
When I stepped over an ant on the sidewalk this morning, I wondered — was the ant aware of my presence? Could it sense the shadow of my foot as it passed above? Did it have any comprehension of my size, or how easily I could have crushed it?
If it was aware, was it grateful that its life was spared?
From a scientific standpoint, ants do have awareness, but it’s sensory and instinctual rather than conceptual. They detect vibrations, chemical trails, and changes in light or shadow. If my foot passed over one, it might have sensed a tremor, a gust of air, or a fleeting darkness — but not me as a person, and certainly not my size.
To the ant, I would be an ungraspable force — too vast, too complex to comprehend.
Then I thought — would I recognize it if God passed over me?
Would I sense His presence, or understand His magnitude compared to mine? His footprint would be the size of the universe.
The Bible compares us to ants in Proverbs 6:6-11, reminding us to learn from their diligence and wisdom. But today, I thought of the ant as a picture of awareness.
How often does God move near me and I don’t even notice? Like Jacob said,
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” —Genesis 28:16
Or Balaam, who couldn’t see the Lord standing in his path — though his donkey could (Numbers 22-24). Isn’t that interesting? A brute beast sensed God’s presence when a prophet could not.
We, too, live in a reality held together by a Presence so immense we can’t fully comprehend it — yet it moves around us constantly.
Like the ant, we might only sense small vibrations of His nearness: a stirring in the heart, beauty in nature, conviction in conscience, or an unexpected mercy.
I wonder how many times I’ve walked right past an incredible manifestation of God without realizing it.
Prayer
Oh God, open the eyes of my heart. I want to see You. I pray to be in Your presence, yet I’m already in it — I can’t escape it. “Where can I go from Your presence?” says the psalmist. My prayer shouldn’t be, “Lord, be with me,” but rather,
“Lord, make me aware that You are with me.”