| Andrew LIm
25 May 2008 - Job 38:8-34
When we come to think about the might and power of God
our minds sometimes go back to ancient days
when the gods were powerful in that they were both volatile and cranky
They were powerful gods / the god of the wind / water
the god of the sun / moon / the god of the planting / harvest
the gods of fertility who gave increase to fields / and flocks
The Bible itself reveals Baal
to be the chief male deity / of the Canaanite pantheon of gods
- and Asherah / the goddess of the sea who sat alongside Baal
- Astarte / the goddess of sensual love / maternity / and fertility
But the power of our God the Bible speaks about
distinguishes Him from all these the spurious deities of the pagan world
He is not a storm god
though the storm gives evidence of His awesome power
He is not a fertility god / though He controls the seasons
and gives life and fruitfulness to the land
He is not a god of warlike Mars
but no army can contain His might
The Israelites called upon God with a name that speaks of His almighty power
The name El Shaddai / It means “the One who overpowers”
“the One Who is sufficient”
And why would God be the Almighty God?
God would not be God / if He isn’t almighty
Steven Charnock says / “How vain would be the eternal counsels
if power did not step in to execute them
Without power His mercy would be but feeble pity
His promises an empty sound
His threatenings a mere scarecrow”
God’s power is like Himself: infinite / eternal / incomprehensible
it can neither be checked / restrained / nor frustrated
by the creature” / S. Charnock
Listen to some of the claims of the Word of God
In Genesis Chapter 18:14 / God asks a rhetorical question
concerning whether Sarah could have a child
when she was well past childbearing age
He says to Abraham / 'Is anything too hard for the Lord'?
The answer of course is 'no'
He tormented the Egyptians with strange plagues
- the waters of the Nile turned into blood
- frogs / thousands upon thousands of them
scampered into every bedroom / every kitchen
scrounge around pots and ovens
He parted the waters of the Red Sea for the Chosen people to pass over
He fed them with manna in the desert / and the sun and moon stood still
Jeremiah simply says 'Ah sovereign Lord, you have
made the heavens and the earth by your great power and
outstretched arm . Nothing is too hard for you.' / 32:17
The psalmist looked to God and proclaimed:
“The Lord / strong and mighty / the Lord mighty in battle' / Psalm 24:8
Towards the end of the book of Job / God Himself takes issue with Job
Through a series of questions
God brings down Job to where he belongs: to the dust
Who shut up the sea behind doors / when it burst forth from the womb?
Have you ever given orders to the morning
or shown the dawn its place?
Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain
and a path for the thunderstorm?
Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?
Can you loose the cords of Orion?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
Jesus simply said / “With God all things are possible” / Mat 19:26
He Himself commanded the winds and the sea and they stood still
and the people who saw that marvelled / saying
“What manner of man is this that the winds and the sea obey him?
With a couple of syllables / strewn from His lips
He raised Lazarus from the dead
As the Angel Gabriel said to the Blessed Virgin
“No word is impossible with God”
Our God is the Almighty God
Sometimes / humans have the authority / but not the power
- like in the case of a rightful king who has to stand helplessly by
as a more powerful rebel / deposes him
Sometimes / humans have the power / but not the authority
- as in the case of the rebel king himself
he has no authority to sit on that throne
it is not rightfully his
but there he sits / by sheer brute force he dethrones the king
So sometimes / humans have the authority / but not the power
and sometimes / they have the power / but not the authority
But in God / both authority and power come together
And we say God is omnipotent
And if God is omnipotent / then He is also omniscient and omnipresent
And indeed God is Omnipresent / He is everywhere present
God cannot be confined / neither by time not by space
God Himself / does not have size or spatial dimensions
and He is present / everywhere / at every point of space
Through the prophet Jeremiah / God asks this question:
“Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him
Do I not fill heaven and the earth” / 23:23
And God is Omniscient
God knows all-things
Not only does God know what has been and what is
but that he also knows in the future
Isaiah 46:9-10 / “I am God and there is none like me
declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times things not yet done”
David says / “Even before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely O Lord” Ps 139
Ps 44:21 / God “knows the secrets of the heart”
Jer 17:10 “I the Lord searches the heart and examines the mind”
We hide nothing from God
“For the eyes of the Lord are everywhere
keeping watch over the wicked and the good” Prov 15:3
God’s might / tells us three things about himself
First / The first meaning of the phrase “God Almighty” informs us
that here / we have a God / Whose power comes next to no one
Not only can He do all things possible / He can do all things easily
simply by the sheer act of His will
It is sufficient for God / to just to will something
God brings about what he merely wills / without any instruments
Psalms 140:5 says / “He commanded and they were created”
Ephesians 1:11 God “works all things
according to the counsel of his own will”
He spoke and the entire universe came to be
Isaiah 40:28 / “Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God / the LORD / the Creator of the ends of the earth
does not become weary or tired / His understanding is inscrutable”
Isaiah 45:12 / “It is I who made the earth / and created man upon it
I stretched out the heavens with My hands
And I ordained all their host”
But omnipotence does not mean
that God can do virtually anything you suggest
God cannot do that which would contradict His own holy character
Neither can God do what is a contradictory state of affairs
He cannot turn back on His Word because He is faithful
He cannot be tempted because He is absolute holiness
He cannot be in need because He is self-sufficient
He cannot annihilate Himself because He is eternal
He cannot change because He is immutable
He cannot lie because He is Truth personified
He cannot be God and not be God at the same time / in the same sense
He cannot make a square circle / a round square
He cannot change the past
If I had toast and marmalade for breakfast this morning
even God cannot make it to be such
that I didn’t have toast and marmalade for breakfast this morning
for as a matter of fact / I did
C.S. Lewis / in his book The Problem of Pain says:
“God’s omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible
not to do the intrinsically impossible
You may attributes miracles to God / but not nonsense
It remains true that all things are possible with God
the intrinsic impossibilities are not things but non-entities”
Thomas Aquinas said / "it is more exact
to say that the intrinsically impossible is incapable of production
than to say that God cannot produce it"
But for all / that is intrinsically impossible
God brings them all into existence / with sheer joy and pleasure
He created the universe / he fashioned each star in the constellation
he threw all the galaxies into place
he appoints the time for the rising and the ebbing of the tides
he charts the course the flight of each migratory bird
he composes the songs of each singing bird
Yet this very same God takes notes of every step you take
the small side-ward glance you give / the softest whisper
every unspoken thought / every attitude harboured
God is both high above and right down here with us
Theologians call this the transcendence and the imminence of God
Secondly / to say “I believe in God Almighty” is to say of God
that He is One Who does whatever pleases Him
God’s power is such that He can do whatever He pleases
Satan and man may attempt to resist God
but God’s power cannot be restrained or frustrated
Isaiah 46:9,10 / “I am God and there is none like me.
Declaring the end from the beginning
And from ancient times things which have not been done
Saying / ‘My purpose will be established
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure”
The psalmist isn’t embarrassed to say
“Our God is in the heavens / He does whatever he pleases” 115:3
But this is precisely what it means for God to be the Mighty One
Third / Nothing / No one can hinder God from Fulfilling His Purposes
Everyone / everything is subject to God’s power and purpose
All nature is subjected to God's power
Nahum 1:3-4 / “God’s way is in the whirlwind and the storm
and clouds are the dust of his feet
He rebukes the sea and dries it up / He makes all the rivers run dry”
All life and death are subjected to God's power
Job 1:21 / “The Lord gave / and the Lord hath taken away”
Satan himself is subjected to God’s power
Satan cannot take away life without God first sanctioning it
We learned that in the life of Job
Yes / Satan can tempt people into situations
which normally leads to death
like tempting someone with a drug overdose
or tempting a young person to show off by reckless driving
But Satan has no power to kill at his sole discretion
If he did / he would surely kill everyone / who lives for God
Angels are subjected to God's power
Hebrews 1:14 / “Are not all angels ministering spirits
sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
God is Almighty in that no power in all the universe
can stop Him or impede His plans
Not evil men / Not natural catastrophe / Not reversal of fortune
Not fate or luck or chance / Not human error
Not even Satan can hinder God’s plan in the least
In the words of Martin Luther
the devil is "God’s devil" / because he serves God’s purposes
Job submits himself to God’s absolute sovereignty
He knows that no one frustrates the purposes of God
and these are his exact words / “I know that you can do all things
and no purposes of yours can be thwarted” / Job 42:2
This means that when you pray / we pray to One
who will relentless / faithfully work out everything for you
in conformity with His purpose and will for you
Daniel says "The Most High does according to his will
in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand" Daniel 4:35
But what does His might mean for us?
It means that I ask at least two questions:
First / How then shall I appear before Him?
And for that / let’s take it from His own mouth
Jeremiah 5:22 / “Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord.
“Should you not tremble in my presence?”
The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness
that I am in the presence of the Holy / Just / and Almighty God,
and that every thought / word / action and deed
is open before Him / and is being judged by Him!
Mike Yaconelli once said:
“The tragedy of modern faith
is that we no longer are capable of being terrified
We aren’t afraid of God
we aren’t afraid of Jesus, we aren’t afraid of the Holy Spirit
As a result / we have ended up with a need-centered gospel
that attracts thousands / but transforms no one”
“We are afraid of unemployment / we are afraid of our cities
we are afraid of the collapse of our government
we are afraid of not being fulfilled / we are afraid of AIDS
but we are not afraid of God”
“We have defanged the tiger of Truth / We have tamed the Lion
and now Christianity is so sensible / so accepted / so palatable”
“I would like to suggest that the Church become a place of terror again
a place where God continually has to tell us / "Fear not"
a place where our relationship with God
is not a simple belief or doctrine or theology
it is God’s burning presence in our lives”
“I am suggesting that the tame God of relevance
be replaced by the God whose very presence
shatters our egos into dust
burns our sin into ashes
and strips us naked to reveal the real person within”
“The Church needs to become a gloriously dangerous place
where nothing is safe in God’s presence except us
Nothing / including our plans / our agendas / our priorities
our politics / our money / our security
our comfort / our possessions / our needs”
“Our world is tired of people whose God is tame
It is longing to see people whose God is big and holy
and frightening and gentle and tender...and ours”
It was Dorothy Sayers / who decades before Mike Yaconelli / said
“We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat
for pale priests and pious old ladies"
Sayers used to complain that we Christians
have certified Him “meek and mild,”
and treated Him like a neutered house-puppy
We’ve succeeded in creating a Jesus in our own image
- a really nice guy / a glorified butler / a bell-hop
He’s there to pick up the pieces / at your beck and call
But of you peel off the veneer / you’ll find
that the real Jesus has not been de-clawed
God is the Almighty God / and reverential fear should mark our lives
May God grant us the sensitivity / the desire
to want to retreat to somewhere quiet
and there / fall on our knees / and bow in holy fear before Him
“Whom we must…”
Our second question should be this:
What then should I do / Is there hope for me / vile as I am?
How can I appease the Almighty God?
If I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God / what can I do?
What peace-offering can I bring to Him?
How can we atone for my defiance of Him?
If I need to make amends / what amends can I make?
Me and my friends / when we were young
Every November we would lined the street that leads to the Hindu temple
And at the beating of the drums and the clashing of the cymbals
the procession of the Taipusam would begin
The devotees would flagellate themselves with shark metal objects
they spike their cheeks and bodies with steel spikes
With fish-hooks dug into their backs
they would pull chariots / each with a child in it
What’s happening? The Hindus are paying penance!
Other faiths have their discipline prayers / so that their loved ones
might be delivered from the torment of purgatory
Still other faiths require their followers to mourn in sackcloth and ashes
Each of these people / feel the need to atone for their sins
before the Almighty God
But before the Almighty God / what is required of us?
God says in His Word:
Rend your heart / and not your garment
Circumcise / not your foreskin / but the foreskin of your heart! De 10
God says / He will not despise a broken heart and a contrite spirit
And that / is what we must do before the Almighty God
Why?
Because / one day soon / breaking through the clouds
a rider on a white horse / is coming
One Who is called by the strange names Faithful and True
His eyes pierce like a flame of fire
He will be shrouded in a robe dipped in blood
He has a Name inscribed that's known only to himself
and he is addressed as "Word of God”
From his mouth comes a sharp sword
with which to smite the nations
He will tread the winepress
of the fury of the wrath of God the ALMIGHTY / Rev 19
No one plays fast with God and wins!
Whatever you sow / that you shall reap
Because God is the Almighty God
We cannot go one living / like God can be sidelined
We cannot hoodwink God / or thwart His purpose
No / Instead He has appointed a day
when his Son will tread the wine press of the fury of his wrath
because he is GOD ALMIGHTY
Now if we did all that
If we live before God in reverential fear
If we repent and make peace with Him
Who then / will the Almighty God be for you?
He will be to you a sanctuary / and a refuge
In the Almighty God / you will find security and safety
Ps 91:4 / “The Almighty God is our shelter
He will cover you with his pinions
and under his wings you will find refuge”
God will be your shelter
Under His wings / you are defended / and protected
I take it from Psalm 91
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
who abides in the shadow of the Almighty
will say to the Lord
‘My refuge and my fortress my God, in whom I trust’”
And there / under the shadow of the Almighty
you will have infinite protection / infinite security
Now / does all this mean
that we will never have to suffer grief / hardship or sorrow?
No / it does not mean that
The refuge of the people of God is not a refuge from suffering and death
Rather / it is a refuge / from that awful final and ultimate spiritual death
Did God exercise his omnipotence to deliver Jesus from the cross / No
In the same way / He may not exercise His omnipotence
to deliver you and me from grief and sorrow
John Piper says / “The omnipotence of God
means eternal / unshakable refuge in the everlasting glory of God
no matter what happens on this earth..
Is there anything more freeing / more thrilling
or more strengthening than the truth
that GOD ALMIGHTY is your refuge / all day every day
in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life!
Nothing / but what he ordains for your good / will come to you
And afterward he will receive you to glory!”
That’s why Psalm 23:4 says / “I will fear no evil / for you are with me”
If God is walking by your side / you have nothing to fear
Because God is omnipotent / you can rest secure
The all-powerful God is with you
He exercises his power on your behalf
He never fails
All his plans for you will come to pass
You can trust him completely
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