In the words of A.W.Tozer, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the very most important thing about us. You may be asking, “Why is it so important what I think about God? Why does it matter?”
One author answered that question this way, “When we know the truth about God, it fills us with wonder. If we fail to understand his true character, we’ll never be amazed by him. We’ll never feel small as we stare up at him. We’ll never worship him as we ought. We’ll never run to him for refuge or realize the great love he’s shown in the measureless distance he bridged to rescue us.”
So when you think about God, what comes into your mind? You may think of Him as a nice grandfatherly figure who is sitting on a cloud somewhere directing a choir of angels who are playing their harps and singing nice but old hymns and choruses. Or you may consider Him to be some gigantic warrior in the sky, holding a huge thunderbolt aimed right at you and just waiting for you to step out of line.
If those are anywhere near your pictures of God, I have some good news for you. You have missed the picture of God as presented in the Bible. There we see God as a powerful, gracious, merciful, and holy God. He is Someone whom it is important for us to get to know, if for no other reason than He is the One who created us! He will not force Himself into our lives, but He would love to have a relationship with each of us.
When I think about God, I think about His characteristics or attributes. And one of the most important of His attributes is His omnipotence.
What is that, you may be asking? In a word, God’s omnipotence means that God is all-powerful. He can do anything He wants to do anytime He wants to do it. His strength is not bound by circumstances or personalities or weather or anything other than His own nature and will. If God be God, He knows everything, even before it happens. But His omnipotence describes the fact that He can do anything. In other words, when God wants something to be done, it is done. He has complete power over the earth, over the spiritual realm, including the devil, and over the affairs of men. His power knows no end and has no ending. From Genesis to Revelation in the Bible, we see this truth consistently asserted and affirmed (See, for example, Genesis 1 and 2, various psalms, Isaiah 40, and multiple New Testament references).
When I was in seminary, we used to think about the president of our school as a God-figure. He was a world-renowned scholar and prolific author, especially in the area of biblical prophecy. He was much in demand as a speaker, and on any given weekend was traveling around the world, sharing his knowledge and expertise with many who would fill sanctuaries and auditoria to hear him explain what God had revealed to him about the end times. Because of his world renown and his daily sophistication, Dr. Walvoord seemed almost untouchable, unapproachable, and unknowable. Most of us students felt intimidated in his presence.
The way we felt about Dr. Walvoord then is exactly the way most people feel about God now. They see Him as unapproachable, and almost two busy for them to even think about bothering. Even if they did bother Him, there is not much He could do about their situation. He is unapproachable, unknowable, and yes, unconcerned about their own difficulties.
But our feelings about Dr. Walvoord changed the day our small group of students decided to ask him and his wife to join us all for dinner. When we ventured to invite him to dinner, I was the one appointed to issue the invitation. I made the appointment to see him in his office, and at the appointed time, I was ushered into his inner office in the school administration building. I remember thinking that I was being ushered into the “Holy of Holies” – it seemed that powerful an experience. During that thirty-minute office visit, and the ensuing dinner engagement, Dr Walvoord became to all of us in the group a very engaging, very approachable individual. He became a very personable individual, funny and encouraging to each of us in our progression of studies at the seminary in pursuit of our ministry goals.
Most people do not think about God’s omnipotence until there is a major tragedy, such as a hurricane, a fatal crash, or a terrorist bombing, something for which there seems to be no logical explanation. It is then that people tend to blame God for the tragedy. It is then that people ask, “Where is God when life hurts?” Often the people who want to blame God or question God in times like those are the same people who refuse to give God the credit when good things happen in their lives. They do not even acknowledge Him as God unless it is to curse Him.
But probably the most significant question regarding God’s omnipotence centers around the thought of God’s omniscience as well. If God knows what is going to happen to me today (that’s His omniscience!), and if God is able to do something about it to change it if He wants to (that’s His omnipotence!), then why doesn’t He do something about whatever bad things are going to happen to me today?
For now, it is a powerfully comforting thought to know that nothing is impossible for God. He is able to do anything He desires to do! Therefore, I stand in awe of Him, trust Him, and turn to Him every moment of every day of my life! Don’t you? Won’t you?
God bless…
Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for this newspaper and a former pastor in the area. He may be reached at [email protected].
