God “fills
heaven and earth” (Jer 23:23-24). At the least, this means that
God is present and relational to all that is not God, whether “near by” or “far
from” (in creaturely terms). Inasmuch as God “fills heaven and earth,” the
latter exist as realities to be filled; hence, all creatures are a genuine
“other” to God. Given the comprehensive character of “heaven and earth,” the
divine relationship with the other is not limited to the human sphere. God as
the “God of all flesh” is one formulation in Jeremiah that moves this
relationship beyond the human (32:27). Moreover, that the desolate land mourns to
God (12:11; see 4:28; 23:10; Joel 1:10, 20) demonstrates that it has a
relationship with God that is independent of God’s relationship to the human
(see Job 38-41; Pss. 104:21, 27; 145:15-16; 147-48). That God in turn addresses
the land (16:19; see 22:29) also evidences such an independent relationship.
Such language regarding the nonhuman cannot be reduced to figurative speech,
poetic license, or worshipful exuberance. Rather, this language of
interresponsiveness shows that God’s presence to and relationship with the
earth and its creatures is more than external; there is an inwardness or
interiority characteristic of the earth and its creatures such that a genuine
relationship with God exists. To speak in this way does not necessarily lead to
a panpsychism or vitalism, only that some kind of internal relationship
with God is claimed. (Terence E. Fretheim, God and World in the Old
Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation [Nashville: Abingdon Press,
2005], 172-73)
