How mighty is God? ...

Thursday, Nov 15, 2012. How mighty is God? I had a discussion recently on what God can do. There are some people who say that God is almighty, he can do everything. There are others, though, who try to understand what God can do, what steps he does in reality, and how we can see or understand that …!

What do we expect? …

What do we expect from God? Where is he to show how mighty he is? What do we want him to do? Usually, our discussion about God's power is not bias free. We ask with our very particular needs! We ask with our idea about justice. We have expectations!

Also, we do not necessarily recognize what God is doing. I assume you are sitting somewhere in a heated room in front of a computer. You use the technical devices, you probably feel warm and might have a coffee in front of you. Would you attribute it to God to provide the computer, the heat and the coffee? Would you say it is due to his power that you have all this?

Our idea about God is often strongly influenced by what we attribute to him and what we do NOT attribute to him. We might charge him for the bad things which happen in this world, but not attribute the good things to him. We might work for something, succeed, but not see his role in our work!

Changing Perspective …

So before we can discuss the power of the Lord, we need a change of perspective. We need to recognize how things are in this world. The bible sees the world as a place for indivicuals with personal freedom to make their choices. It sees the world as a place where freedom is distorted, since we become dependent on forces we cannot control and which do not try to help us.

The bible sees the world as a place where everything is possible to the Lord, he can work with or without the natural laws (which he made). He provides the things we have. He is allowing needs and suffering. He put us here, to find him and learn to live with him. His power is in everything we have. It can be in every part of our life!

But his power wants to be a power of the holy spirit. He wants freedom, he wants choices, he wants faith. His concern is not the show effect of physical might. His interest is much different, he is interested in purity, in patience, in faith. He is interested in love and endurance. There is much power in patience, much power in love. Do you know how mighty the Lord is? (Roland Potthast) ... more texts