Forget-Me-Nots Along The Way

Attributes of God, Part Two

Today's entry may be rambling.  I have had many life events that have made me think about this attribute of God more than some others.  In my mind the writing all connects and make sense, but I don't know if it will have flow when written out and others read.  These are just the thoughts in my mind and heart.

God is omnipotent; He possesses all power.  He can accomplish anything He has decided to do with or without outside help.

"Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." Gen 18:14 NIV

"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted."  Job 42:2 NIV

"Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" Matt 19:26 NIV

"I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is there anything too hard for me?" Jer 32:27

Why do I have fear if God possesses all power, can accomplish anything He plans and nothing is impossible for Him?  I think I have always understood the omnipotence of God. What I don't understand and perhaps is the source of my fear, is why God sometimes does not act in His power.  Why did he not save my 5 year old brother from dying?  Why do Christians suffer horrible evils?  The list goes on.  I mean no disrespect toward God, but I think we all have some of these questions.

If I were only to focus on the omnipotence of God outside of His other attributes, I think I would become bitter.  I might even hate God.  When I consider God's moral attributes and that He is immutable, I can see that even when I cannot understand how He uses or chooses not to use His power, He is doing so out of holiness, righteousness, justice, mercy, longsuffering, wisdom, love, goodness, truthfulness, faithfulness and sometimes wrath and jealousy.

An all powerful God makes more sense to me.  Who would want a God who made promises He could not keep? I had an alcoholic father.  Fortunately before his early death, He came to know Christ as His Savior and God blessed us with much healing.  I had forgiven my Daddy, but my memories still hold painful moments - waiting for promises to be fulfilled.  Daddy loved me.  I never doubted that.  But because of his life choices (sin), he was not able to be the person he wanted to be, the Dad I needed or to even remember the promises he made to me!

As an early believer I sometimes translated this to my Heavenly Father - I knew Abba loved me, but could He carry through?  Did He have the power to fulfill His promises and actively be involved in my life?  Hallelujah!  That answer is "yes"!  Trust is an ongoing journey for me, but knowing God is powerful and that nothing is impossible for Him encourages me to travel onward, drawing closer to Him.  Do I still wish He used His power to save loved ones lives? Yes! The difference now is that I trust that when He doesn't, there is a reason.

There are a few verses I think of when I think of God's power working in my life:

"Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:6 NIV The footnote in the NIV Study Bible says, "it is God who initiates salvation, who continues it and who will one day bring it to its consummation."  Isn't it wonderful to know that God is not going to drop the ball with us?  He has the power to complete us and accomplish good works in and through us!

In Ephesians 1:19, 20b, Paul is talking about his prayers for the believers to know "his incomparably great power for us who believe.  That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead." NIV  WOW! That is power!  Power that raised Christ from the dead.

Naturally when I think about not understanding why God doesn't use His power I think of Romans 8:28-29.  God does work out all things together for good.  No, the tragedies of life are never good.  If Jesus wept when Lazarus died, then Father God must also weep for us when our hearts are breaking.  Maybe He has chosen, for some reason we can't understand, not to use His power to stop some of the painful things, but He can use those painful experiences to draw us close to Him.  No I don't think God killed my little brother as a relationship ploy, but I do see how my life has been changed by that experience.  It pulled the rug out from under my feet and even though I was only 7 following his death, I somehow knew that God was the only One who could make sense of all of this.  And in the 33 years since that tragedy, God has developed a deep sense of compassion in my heart for those who experience unexpected loss.  I feel it helps me pray for them with at least a small sense of understanding that I might not have had otherwise.

Many of us can testify that the hard things in life that the Enemy may intend to harm us or draw us away from God, will actually draw us closer if we acknowledge WHO God is!  If we understand that He is omniscient (all knowing) as well as omnipotent (all powerful) then we should trust Him to use His power in appropriate ways.  The flipside of that is that there must also be a reason why He does not use His power to stop tragedy.  I can not claim to understand this.  Certainly even recently I have hoped and prayed that God would prevent our friend Laura from dying of cancer.  He chose not to.  I have to believe that there must be a reason.  Maybe we will know in time.  Maybe we will not.  Perhaps sometimes we want to know too much.  Maybe there are times we need to "be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10.  At any rate I cannot conclude that God uses His power in a random or cruel manner.  If He did it would go against His other character attributes.

In my life now, I realize that I need to continually submit to God's power.  I need to trust and believe that He is powerful enough to accomplish His plan in my life.  I must believe that His power is Holy, Right and Just even if I cannot understand. 

Thank You Lord that Your power is awesome, pure and complete.  Thank You that Your power rose Jesus from the grave and brought victory over death so that I might spend eternity in Heaven with You!  Help me to understand more of You as I read and study Your Word, which itself is full of POWER, a living and active, double edged sword.  Thank You that You have not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self discipline.  Thank You that Your power is made perfect in my weakness! Amen.