THE POWER OF GOD
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with living-kindness have I drawn thee. Jer. 31:3.
Power! You see it in the latest television commercials: four-wheel drive pickups soar into the air with the blazing sun as a backdrop. Powerful nations meet at summit conferences to eye each other and consider the extent of negotiable weaponry. Five-year-old Billy wilts when Dad begins to slip his belt from his waist.
Christians pray, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." Sometimes we rejoice at the thought of God's power. (He can shut lions' mouths and make the sea like dry land!) At other times we wish we could hide from Him. (He can destroy wicked people with fire and brimstone!) Depending on our need and how we feel about ourselves, we cry to God for His power or we run from it
While not wanting to diminish the quality of power in God (indeed, one of God's own names for Himself is El Shaddai, the ALmighty), may I suggest that our human obsession with muscle power has distorted our view of God? Remember the six blind men from India, each of whom had hold of an elephant? Asked to describe the beast, the one who had hold of the trunk said that it was like a huge snake. Another argued that it was like a tree trunk, while yet another thought it was like rope, and so on. The point is that while all were partially accurate, none could conceive of the true nature of the animal.
Jesus said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, since thou hast given him power over all flesh." Power over all flesh! But He goes on, "to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him" (John 17:1, 2, R.S.V.). Power to give! And lest there be any doubt as to what He meant, He finished, "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (verse 3, R.S.V.).
To know God is to be drawn to Him. Jesus, in showing us the Father, drew all men unto Himself and, consequently, to the Father. In today's text, God declared through the prophet Jeremiah that He draws us by His lovingkindness. That is the greatest definition of God's power: drawing love!
And by this He has given us power--to become children of God (chap. 1:12)!
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with living-kindness have I drawn thee. Jer. 31:3.
Power! You see it in the latest television commercials: four-wheel drive pickups soar into the air with the blazing sun as a backdrop. Powerful nations meet at summit conferences to eye each other and consider the extent of negotiable weaponry. Five-year-old Billy wilts when Dad begins to slip his belt from his waist.
Christians pray, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." Sometimes we rejoice at the thought of God's power. (He can shut lions' mouths and make the sea like dry land!) At other times we wish we could hide from Him. (He can destroy wicked people with fire and brimstone!) Depending on our need and how we feel about ourselves, we cry to God for His power or we run from it
While not wanting to diminish the quality of power in God (indeed, one of God's own names for Himself is El Shaddai, the ALmighty), may I suggest that our human obsession with muscle power has distorted our view of God? Remember the six blind men from India, each of whom had hold of an elephant? Asked to describe the beast, the one who had hold of the trunk said that it was like a huge snake. Another argued that it was like a tree trunk, while yet another thought it was like rope, and so on. The point is that while all were partially accurate, none could conceive of the true nature of the animal.
Jesus said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, since thou hast given him power over all flesh." Power over all flesh! But He goes on, "to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him" (John 17:1, 2, R.S.V.). Power to give! And lest there be any doubt as to what He meant, He finished, "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (verse 3, R.S.V.).
To know God is to be drawn to Him. Jesus, in showing us the Father, drew all men unto Himself and, consequently, to the Father. In today's text, God declared through the prophet Jeremiah that He draws us by His lovingkindness. That is the greatest definition of God's power: drawing love!
And by this He has given us power--to become children of God (chap. 1:12)!
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