No. 116 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer

The Who penetratest all things

Nothing is hidden, nothing is beyond reach, this name invites us into the humbling awareness that God's reality permeates every corner of existence, including the depths of our own suffering.

I call on Thee O Thou Who penetratest all things, O All-Seeing God, O Lord of Utterance! Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One! Bahá'u'lláh, The Long Healing Prayer · read the full prayer

What “The Who penetratest all things” means

What follows reflects on this name of God, offered for your own contemplation, and not as an authoritative interpretation of the Bahá'í Writings, which rests with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi alone.

To say that God penetrates all things is to say that there is no sealed room in creation, no cell of the body, no corridor of the mind, no hidden chamber of the heart, that lies beyond the reach of the divine reality. This name points to a presence that is not distant and awaiting an invitation, but already intimate with every layer of what exists. It does not describe a God who surveys the world from outside it, but one whose reality suffuses the world from within, the way light fills a space rather than merely shining on its surface.

There is something quietly radical about this name. Human experience of isolation, the kind that comes with illness, grief, or confusion, can feel absolute, as though one has fallen into a place where no other presence can follow. This name gently but firmly pushes back against that feeling. Not as a slogan, but as a claim about the nature of reality itself: whatever the condition, however remote it seems, the One who penetrates all things is already there.

It is worth holding this name alongside the recognition that God's essence remains beyond full human comprehension. The penetrating presence is not one we fully grasp or contain with our understanding, it is the other way around. We are the ones encompassed. That asymmetry is not frightening so much as it is steadying: the One who reaches everywhere is not limited by the smallness of our view.

Calling on The Who penetratest all things for healing

When a person is in the grip of illness, or the kind of invisible suffering that has no name on a chart, one of the loneliest feelings is the sense that the condition has gotten somewhere ahead of any help. Pain or fear can seem to occupy a room that nothing good can enter. Calling on God by this name is a way of quietly contesting that feeling. It is not a demand or a formula; it is more like turning toward a presence that the prayer itself asserts is already there, already penetrating the very tissue of the situation. That turning, in itself, can be a form of relief even before anything outwardly changes.

Invoking this name is also a form of honesty. It acknowledges that we cannot reach every corner of our own need, we do not fully understand our bodies, our minds, or what healing will ultimately require. But the One who penetrates all things is not limited by our incomplete self-knowledge. Praying this way naturally goes hand in hand with seeking the help of skilled physicians and caregivers; God's penetrating presence works through means as well as beyond them. The prayer holds open a space of trust, not a guarantee of a particular outcome, but a confidence that nothing about our situation is unknown or unreachable to the One we are addressing.

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In the Bahá'í Writings

Questions about The Who penetratest all things

What does it mean for God to 'penetrate' all things, is this a physical claim?

It is best understood as a spiritual claim about the reach and intimacy of God's presence rather than a physical or scientific one. The name conveys that no aspect of existence, whether of matter, mind, emotion, or circumstance, lies outside the scope of divine awareness and reality. It is a way of saying that God's relationship to creation is not remote or partial, but total and all-pervasive.

Can reciting this name of God cure my illness?

The Long Healing Prayer is a deeply cherished form of devotion in the Bahá'í Faith, and many believers turn to it with sincere hope during times of physical or emotional difficulty. That said, prayer is held in trust with God's wisdom, and no specific outcome can be promised. The Bahá'í teachings also strongly emphasize consulting competent medical professionals, treating prayer and medicine as complementary rather than competing.

Why is this name grouped with 'All-Seeing' and 'Lord of Utterance' in the same line of the prayer?

The prayer clusters these names in a way that builds a layered picture of divine encompassment, God penetrates all things, sees all things, and is the source of all meaningful speech. Together they suggest a presence that is not silent or blind but fully aware and communicative. Reflecting on the names together, rather than in strict isolation, can deepen one's sense of being genuinely known and addressed.

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