God Is... Almighty

By Jason V (Ponderings of a Pilgrim Pastor)

God Almighty Rules Over All

"The LORD has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all." (Psalm 103:19)

Do you remember when you first discovered that your dad was not really all-powerful?  When I was a small boy, I really did think my dad could do anything.  My dad is pretty handy and big (over 6' 5"), so to a small 6-year-old, he seemed like Superman.  Yet like all of you, I had to endure the hard, slow realization that my dad was not, in fact, omnipotent, until, as a teenager, I wondered if my dad could do anything right at all.

Some people (even those who call themselves "Christian") think that our typical childhood experiences with our earthly dads is a model for what should happen to our view of God over time, as we mature in our faith.  As crises and conflicts come, they reason, we ought to see that a world full of evil is incompatible with an all-powerful and all-good God.  Since we all believe that God is good, we must then abandon the idea that God is all-powerful in favor of a God who looks a lot more like our limited and fallible dads.

The Bible gives us no room whatsoever for such a pale view of God. In Scripture after Scripture, God shines through with radiance as the great and glorious King of the Universe. "Nothing is impossible with God," the Bible boldly proclaims time and again (see Luke 1:37 and Mark 10:27). When God's people doubt His power in Isaiah 59:1, "Surely, the arm of the LORD is not too short to save."

When Jesus came, He demonstrated the Almighty power of God.  Jesus showed unmistakably that nothing could stand in God's way or frustrate His will.  God was mighty enough to create life in the womb of a virgin.  He was mighty enough to use a wicked king's edict to get His Son to the proper place to be born, Bethlehem (see Micah 5:2).  He was able to use dreams and visions to deliver His Son from the hands of a murderous tyrant (read Matthew 2). 

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