GOD IS ALL POWERFUL
“Knowing God-IV” Job 36:26-33
& 37:5-6
02/12/2017
Introduction: Ravi Zacharias in his book “Has Christianity
Failed You?” shares his experience of watching NFL Football game to illustrate
how great and big our God is and how small and manageable our problems
are. “Some time ago, I attended a football game in my home city of Atlanta.
Through the courtesy of one of the players, we were seated close to the team’s
bench. Years before, I had watched a game from the nosebleed section, and I
remember thinking how small the players looked and how vast the playing field
appeared. This time, however, I was so close to the players that I could almost
hear them breathing, and I was quite surprised by how big they were and by how
small the field really was.” [1]
Similarly,
when we are far away from God, every problem looks like a mountain and everyone
looks so intimidating. But when we come nearer to God He becomes huge and
everything else all of a sudden becomes so small and manageable. Ravi, goes on to say, “When we are close
enough to the Jesus of history that we can look at history from his
perspective, we actually see how mighty and strong he is and how navigable life
is with him as the captain.”
We
have been on a journey of Knowing God. Today we will look into one of God’s
most wonderful attribute that we all must know. “GOD IS ALL POWERFUL.” Job
36:26-33 & 37:5-6 If you have been to a seminary, bible school or attend
Pat’s Bible classes you may have heard terms like, “the moral and natural
attributes of God.” The theologians have identified several moral attributes such
as, God is love, patient, merciful, righteous, gracious etc and three natural
attributes. Today we will look into one natural attribute. “God is All
Powerful.”
I. GOD IS ALL POWERFUL
There
are nearly 7.4 billion people on planet Earth, but according to Forbes, only 74
men and women make the world turn. Forbes' annual ranking of the World’s Most
Powerful People identifies one person out of every 100 million whose actions
mean the most. Out of the 74, three are the most powerful people of 2016:
Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Angela Merkel.[2]
Vladimir
Putin ranks number one among these three. They may have a lot of influence in
the day to day affairs of the world, very well get what they want and even
think of themselves invincible. But what do the scriptures have to say about these
so called powerful people? They are just like anyone of us, mere human beings.
The scriptures use some interesting metaphors when it comes to describing the
brevity and incompetence of human beings: mere breath & passing shadow,
Psalm 144:4, a phantom or an image, Psalm 39:6, grass & flowers, Psalm 103:15,
Fish in the sea, Habakkuk 1:14, sheep, Isaiah 53:6.”
The
most humbling metaphor used is, dust, Psalm 103:14, to describe what happens to
all humans in the end. On our final day, the minister pronounces from Genesis
3:19, “for dust you are and to dust you will return.” These scriptures do give
us an accurate picture of our position on this earth. When we realize how small
we are and how BIG our God is, hopefully our bragging will be replaced with
worship and praise of this awesome God. The scriptures say, the heavens “cannot
contain him,” but I wonder how he can reside in this little heart of mine?
That is the mystery! The focus of our study however is
not about how small and incapable we are but about how BIG and Awesome, our God
is.
The
theologians use a Latin word “Omni Potence” to describe God’s power and
greatness. The word "Omni-Potence” means "All-Powerful.
It is the
quality of having unlimited or very great power. Other synonyms: all-powerfulness,
almightiness, supremacy, preeminence, supreme power, absolute power, unlimited
power; invincibility. Is there anyone human being rightly possess these
qualities? The answer is an emphatic “No” Only God is attributed with this most
powerful quality. In the OT two Hebrew names were given to God Elohim and
El-Shaddai.
Elohim is a
Hebrew word that denotes “God” or “god.” It is one of the most common names for
God in the Old Testament, starting in the very first verse: “In the beginning
[Elohim] created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The name Elohim
occurs over 2,500 times in the OT. The basic meaning behind the name Elohim is
one of strength or power of effect. Elohim is the infinite, all-powerful God
who shows by His works that He is the creator, sustainer, and supreme judge of
the world. El Shaddai, for example, means “God Almighty” (Genesis 49:24).
In the OT,
people often having seen the acts of God first hand, called God by that act.
There
are many scriptures that talk about God’s greatness and his immense power. I
chose somewhat unfamiliar passages from the book of Job 36:26-33; 37:5-6. The
context of this passage is very well known to Christians. The name Job might
have been derived from the Hebrew word for “persecution” thus meaning
“persecuted one” or from an Arabic word meaning “repent” thus bearing the name,
“repentant one.” Job was a righteous man, raising his family in the fear of
God, but all of a sudden, he encountered all kinds of trials and troubles.
Without
any fault of his own, Job unfairly lost his wealth, health, children and even
was ridiculed by his own wife who said, “curse God and die” Yet Job did not sin
by his mouth. We will pick up the story where Job’s three good friends come to
console him in his misery. We often talk about the discourse between Job, his
three friends and God. But we seldom give attention to the wise council and the
strongest defense regarding the power of God that came from the fourth person,
named Elihu.
What
do we know about Elihu? We know him as the son of Barchal. He was probably
present for the discussions between Job and his friends. He was the youngest of
the four. He had been standing on the sidelines, giving deference to age and so
compared to their age and wisdom he had hesitated to speak. But now he is ready
to show that both Job and the three other counselors are in the wrong.
Let
me make a remark here. “wisdom does not always depend on the chronological age
of a person, at times young people too exhibit great wisdom and restraint. So,
at times it pays of when we are humble enough to listen and learn from young
people.” Coming back to our text, Elihu though he was only partially correct in
his assessment of Job and his suffering, yet seemed to have great deal of
understanding when it came to God’ greatness, his justice and righteousness. In
the verses, we read he highlighted God’s dealings with nature and mankind.
II. GOD’S POWER OVER NATURE: (Vs 26-33 & 37:5-6)
Elihu
started off his argument on a right note. Vs 26, “Behold God is great and we
know him not;” His advice to Job who had been complaining about his suffering,
questioning and challenging God, was that he needed to stop and see how Great
God is in his suffering and worship him. He used a phrase, “We know him not”
(NASB). Though we may have a personal knowledge of God in salvation, and
experienced his love, and forgiveness, but when it comes to knowing the
fullness of his glory greatness, it is beyond our comprehension. In Vs 27-37: 4-6,
Elihu gave a picture of God’s power in the rain, and snow storms.
The
scientists may have a different explanation on how rain and snow is formed,
here in these verses we see who actually masterminds rain and snow. God draws
up the drops of water, they distill rain from the mist, which the clouds pour
down. God causes the thunder and lightning. In ch 37:4-6“After that comes the
sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice
resounds, he holds nothing back. God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he
does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, “Fall on the
earth,’ and to the rain shower, Be a mighty downpour.” Later on, God challenges
Job with these words, “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the
storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble for days of war
and battle?” Job 38:22-23
As a
young Christian I read this passage several times, but it never made any sense
to me. Growing up in India, I never saw snow in my life, until I got married to
Wilma. In 1994, in December in Holland, one day I woke up to find myself in a
wonderland, surrounded by beautiful, white snow everywhere. It was breathtaking and truly awesome. I know if you grew up or living in New England it’s
no big deal. At times, it can be a nuisance.
But
when we stop and pay close attention to these natural elements of hail, rain
and snow they teach us how to wonder at the power of God. The Psalmist
wondered, “the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of
his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they reveal
knowledge.” Psalm 1-2. Yet the meteorologists on the weather channels talk like
as if they are little “gods” predicting the movements of weather, but do they
have any clue about who actually controls the weather, whose commands the wind,
the hail and snow follow?
The
scripture says, that God counts the stars, calls each one by name and they obey
him.
Who can fathom the mighty works of our God? All we are
capable of is to clean up the mess of God’s fury. In insurance language, the
natural calamities: Hurricanes,
floods, hail, tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes and tornados are all considered
acts of God.
Why
does God allow these calamities to happen?
God often uses these natural sources like rain and snow to teach human
beings who actually is in charge, or who has the final word.
In Chapter 37: 13-14, this is what Elihu, have to say,
“He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his
love.” There is so much we can learn from scriptures about the power of God. It
suffices to know that “God is all powerful.” Next, time when you are shoveling
snow or skating on the ice, look up to the sky and be in awe of our mighty God.
God
is all powerful to cause a situation either to turn in our favor to show forth
his love, or against us in order to discipline and build our character. Without
exception, in life we all go through tough times, unfair treatments, and undue
suffering. Sometimes they are a result of our wrong choices, or may be the
devil is out there testing us like in the case of Job or may be God himself lovingly
allowing them to happen to us to form us into the image of His son.
If
you are complaining about your difficult situation you need to listen to the
advice of Elihu to Job, Vs14, “Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s
wonders.” Life is all about having a right perspective. So often we stand in
awe of problems, looking into the great unknown, wanting to go forward, and get
out of those problems... but fear seizes us, and doubts cloud us. And that is
when we must know how powerful our God is and learn to trust Him. When we learn
to trust our Great God in the midst of the great unknown, then our trust in God
will grow and we can undertake any challenge life and people might throw at us.
Is the fear of the unknown future gripping your heart today?
Remember, when God
becomes BIG in your life everything else becomes small. By faith when we
entrust our lives totally in to the most powerful hands of God, we have nothing
to fear, nothing to lose and nothing to worry. Amen
