Hello and welcome back to Cultivating Growth. I wanna thank everyone for joining us this week. This is our second episode of the month on the topic of who is God, and we're looking at some of the specific characteristics and attributes that we find of God in scripture three in particular this month.

Last week we talked about God being all knowing, and this week we're gonna be talking about God being all powerful or omnipotent as it is sometimes described. And so with that, let's get right to the conversation. 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's how the Bible begins. And, and John, when you really begin to think about it, it, it is from the outset,  a, a piece, a picture into the power that God has at the beginning of his book. That is impossible for our human minds really to comprehend.

Yeah. It is literally the very. First thing we learn about God, the very first thing we learn about him is his power over not just the world, but over matter and energy and the universe and everything about it, to be able to speak it into existence. There is nothing else and no one else. That has ever been or will ever be capable of that level of power.

And so the fact that it is literally the first thing we learn about God, I think is it should be telling to us that this is something that is really important for us to know and to understand and grab hold of. Because every single one of us who have ever lived on this Earth can see and recognize God's power through his creation.

It is undeniable. He is all powerful in that regard. And so I think the fact that the Bible begins that way should tell us just how important it is it is for us. To not just understand this reality about God, but to spend some time digging into it and really allowing it to impact our lives and our relationship with him.

You know, when you come to concepts, certainly biblical concepts that are above our human minds to comprehend, and there are several of. Them eternity is one of those things. God and the attributes of them are, are another one of those things. And, and I think sometimes there is a, a temptation to, to consider those, the issues that are beyond our human capabilities to fully comprehend. 

And to just say, well, that, that's what it is. Mm-hmm. And not really spend a whole lot of time really not, I don't know if trying to comprehend is the right word. Yeah. But really digging in, you know, to its reality and, and these kind of all. Knowing all powerful, all present kind of ideas about God are one of those things.

And we may mention last week that biblically, I mean from the, literally from the beginning to the end, you know, characters in the Bible, writers of the Old Testament and New Testament make mention of God's infinite knowledge over and over and over. But that almost pales a comparison to the amount of times from the literal beginning of scripture, as we just referenced, to the literal, very end of scripture, all of the references made to God's power.

I.  Are littered throughout. Mm-hmm. And, and it is not just the power in his words as we made mention of in Genesis chapter one, but it is his strong arm. It, it is the way he operates and the way he acts and you know, the power that he has. And I think almost like last week, we can look at that in a very fearful kind of way.

Now, respectful from the fearful kind of way is okay, but yet at the same time, there is a comfort. That comes from understanding the what God's power is all about. I think we see that perhaps most clearly, at least for me as I was thinking about this in scripture, in Job chapter 38, it's one of, it's one of the biggest mic drop moments in the Bible, and it's all centered around God's power as, as you go throughout the middle sections of Job where job's, friends are kind of coming and going and they are questioning.

God in the situation that Job finds himself in, why are these things happening? Even Job himself is struggling with, why would God allow this? Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? All of those kind of questions are bubbling up around Job and his circumstances, and you get to Job chapter 38, and for the first time, Jo Job is going to hear from God directly. 

What God says after hearing all of job's, friends and everybody question why all of this is happening. God speaks to Job and he says, I'm gonna question you, and you answer me. And then he follows that up with, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? You  know  who determined its measurements?

Who stretched the line upon it? Th this moment where God is. Confronting job with his power and job's weakness, job's, lack of power in all of these things, and it is such a startling contrast to where most of that middle part of Job has been. So much so that when God is finished with this job is essentially left speechless.

Mm-hmm. He doesn't have anything to say because he has come face to face with God's power and it silences him. He recognizes that I, I don't have any right to question him. I don't have any right to ask these kinds of questions about why this is happening because this is the all powerful God that's speaking to me.

We talked last week about his understanding is beyond mine. His power is beyond mine. And it is such a, a powerful thing for us to consider as well, because while we don't have necessarily the exact circumstances that job. Found himself in, we should have these moments where we come face to face with the power of God and we are humbled by it.

I think that's what should happen when we read Genesis one, for instance, we should be humbled by the fact that we are coming to the throne of the all powerful God and his power is beyond even my comprehension. Yeah, I mean, the only response is astonishment. And amazement and awe. I mean, you see that a little bit, you know, throughout the gospels with Jesus in all of his demonstrations of power through miracles while he was on the earth.

Yeah. Even with all of the opposition that he had and, and there was a lot of it. Yeah. And the gospels right about it. I mean, over and over and over all the oppositions. But you, you read about his miracles and then the responses to his miracles are almost the exact same. Every single time throughout gospels, there'll be a miracle that one of the writers will make mention of, and then it'll, the end of that story will be something like, and the people were astonished at what he did, or the people were amazed at what has occurred.

And you read text like that and you're like, that is the response. Yeah, that's it. It is astonishment. It, it is all. And, and you know, a lot of that, I mean, the psalmist write, you know about it of, you know, spending time in nature and spending time in God's creation and the humility and awe  and respect and reverence that should well up inside us.

Just spending time in God's creation. All of that is the. Only response that comes from this. Yeah, there were a couple, excuse me. There were a couple of instances I was looking at in scripture that kinda speak to exactly what you were just describing. Joshua chapter 10, God makes the sun stand still.

Exodus chapter 14, Moses through God's power parts the Red Sea, so that people can walk through on dry land. And then the miracles that you were talking about throughout the life of Jesus. Even not just his control and power over health and even life itself, but his power over the weather and the storms and the seas.

All those things being demonstrated just time and time again throughout the Bible and it, it's almost  there. There are times where I wish, as someone who's now 40 years old and has been studying the Bible for a long time, I wish I could go back to a time where I could read those stories for the first time. 

And just stop and think to myself, I just read Joshua chapter 10 for the first time. No understanding about what's gonna happen. No knowledge of the story or nothing. Read it for the first time and be like, wait a second. Did I just read that right? Did God just make the sun stand still? Yeah. I, I understood that, right?

I mean, he made the sun stand. That's not possible. You know, it's not possible for a million people to walk across what was the Red Sea on dry ground, that, that's not possible. And to, to be able to experience God's power through his word like that with fresh eyes is, is enviable in a lot of ways. But even, even though, you know, I've studied it for a long time, you studied for a long time.

Probably a lot of people listening to this have as well. I think it's, it's still a wonderful experience to try to read these things as if we are reading them for the first time or thinking about them as if we are thinking about them for the first time. Try to put ourselves in the shoes of the people watching Jesus perform miracles and they're confronted with this power that doesn't make sense, that it isn't possible, and, and that is God.

He, he, he is capable of things. That are not otherwise possible because he wrote the rules of nature. He wrote the laws of physics. They are his, he controls them. And, and that understanding and that experience of being confronted with those is, is really a. An eye-opening experience, but it's also a faith building one, and I think that's why so many occurrences of God's power are given to us in the Bible because they can be such strong faith building moments for us.

Yeah, I mean, the application of that then is. Who, who do I want on my side? Right? Who do I want fighting for me? And, and so that is the phraseology that you see, especially through the Old Testament. Mm-hmm. You know, that, that reality, that Joshua had an understanding that it, it wasn't the Israelites fighting against cities like Jericho and others.

It was God doing the fighting and, and it. Now we're, we have no problem because he is all powerful. It is, it is David standing up against Goliath and, and not David saying I've trained and I'm so special. It's his understanding that God is fighting for me. Mm-hmm. And so when we begin to think about it in those ways, now, the reality of God's power on my side. 

Puts me in a very different place. Isaiah chapter 40 is a very similar passage in a lot of ways to what you referenced in the Book of Job. And, and the fact that God is, is kind of asking questions. He's not personally asking as he does to Job, but he is, he's doing as often happens in the book of Isaiah, that comparison between God and an idol.

Mm-hmm. And, and he's kind of asking some questions to the people. About, you know, why, why would you have an idol? And anyway, he, he makes some points about the power that God has. And, and, and he uses phrases to kind of help, to understand what's that, what that's like. And he says in verse 18, to whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to him? And so the point is being made, no, nobody operates right as God operates. And so why would you have a, a stick or a stone or a piece of metal?  Fight for you when you could have God who fights for you and, and ultimately at the very end of that, you know, chapter, that will be the point that's made.

He gives power to the weak, to those who have no might. He increases strength. He, he shares even that power. And so the application then is. Who do you want fighting on your side? Right? Well, someone who is infinite in their power is certainly who I want fighting on my side. Yeah, and you know, as you were thinking about, as I was thinking about what you just said, this God that wants to fight for us, this God that is all powerful as God who controls everything, he's also the same God who loves us.

Mm-hmm.  Who says he will be gentle with us and the same God who says, come to me and I'll give you rest. It's that same guide. It kind of makes me think of this, you know, this parent figure as our children when, especially when they're very little, they see us as parents, especially I think us as fathers.

They see us as being capable of anything, right? We're so much bigger. We, we can do anything. We can, you know, we're, we're superman in the eyes of our little children and, and, but yet then we scoop them down and we pick them up and we hold them and we tell them that we love them and we show them the gentleness to that as well on a much grander scale that boggles the mind.

That's where God is. He is this all powerful.  Creature being, but he's also our father and he's gentle and he loves us and he cares for us. And when you start to combine those two things, I think it really just paints this beautiful picture of God for us. Let's build on that and close Psalm one 18 of our six.

Let's close with this idea. As the Psalmist shares  some advice and there is a reality in thinking about God's power. In a passage such as this, Psalm one 18 of verse six, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear what can man do to me.  Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you're listening, and rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus.

As widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk to you again next week.