Continuing this week with our look at the Sovereignty of God, we talked about the fact that God is all-powerful, or omnipotent. Again, just like the previous weeks, this is a statement that I think most any Christian would have no problems agreeing with. "Yes, of course God is all-powerful." It is easy for us to agree with...but what does that mean? Well...the obvious answer is that He has unlimited power. That is easy to see all through Scripture. Creation, the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Exodus, the Red Sea, provisions in the wilderness, Jericho, Samson, Elijah, David and Goliath, Daniel and the lions den, Shadrach-Meshach-Abednego, the virgin birth of Jesus, Jesus' miracles, Jesus' resurrection, Pentecost...just to name a few demonstrations of God's power. It is easy for us to point at those times where God showed up in a huge way, usually to rescue or deliver someone.
But what about Acts 7, where Stephen is stoned to death for his faith in Jesus...or Acts 12, where James is murdered by Herod for his faith...or the people described in Hebrews 11:36-37 which says "Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated...". Why were these believers not rescued or delivered from their afflictions? Is God not that powerful? Or what about the current situation in Libya and the rest of the Middle East...or the recent disasters in Japan and other places? Are these situations beyond God's power to control, or even prevent? Or could these also be demonstrations of God's power as well?
Another thought provoking question that our world puts forth today for us is that if God is all powerful, why doesn't He just save all people? Why do some people supposedly have to go to hell? It is an interesting question, but one that we must be very careful how we answer as it is very easy to emasculate our God with our answer. I think that a common Christian response looks something like this:
-because, if God is love, (and I think that Scripturally that is true, though maybe not in the context that we want to think of it), then He has to love all people and therefore He has to try and save all people as a demonstration of that love. If some choose not to be saved and accept Him, then that is their free choice.
But if all that is true, then the real power in that statement actually lies in our hands, thus making God no longer omnipotent but simply a cheerleader on the side lines routing, very enthusiastically, for us to call the right play. That does not seem very powerful to me (no disrespect to cheerleaders...you are all quite powerful...but not what I am looking for from an all-powerful God!). At the very least that seems to make God a spectator and we are the all-powerful ones.
As we discussed this idea last night, I shared my desire to be able to give an all encompassing understanding and articulation of God's power as a demonstration of His Sovereignty. But I unfortunately can't do that as I struggle myself to wrap my mind around this Sovereignty thing. The basic idea that I tried to communicate to the students regarding the omnipotence of God (which I must confess, comes from some reading of AW Pink) was that God does whatever He wants to, whenever He wants to, where ever He wants to, how ever He wants to! That power may not always be obvious to us, or make logical sense to us, or feel good to us. Is God required to give us an account or a justification for His actions? Not if He is all-powerful (just ask Job). If He was required to give us an understanding of all His actions, that would again make us more powerful than Him.
The bottom line, as I see it...God is all-powerful and does what He wants to, when He wants to, where He wants to, and how He wants to. We can't fully comprehend all of the implications of that statement, but we would do very well to think long and hard about it. We need to also be careful about the way that we try to force God in to boxes that we can explain and/or feel good about as this creates a weak god (lower case g) that our world will have no desire to follow.
1 comment:
Good thoughts!
It sometimes helps me to remember God doesn't need us or need anything from us-but He does want a relationship with us and in essence it's like a child who receives money from their parents to put in the offering plate. All that we give to God He gives to us.
There is so much we don't know about Him, and things that seem "hateful" but I think in those times it's important to remember who are God is and what we do know. He is good, always, He is Love, it's not what He does but who He is. It's cliche but truth when we don't know "why" remember who.
Appreciate your thoughts and sharing.
Elizabeth
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