The Power Of God # 3

 The Power Of God # 3

Consider God's power in PRESERVATION. No creature has power to preserve self. "Can papyrus reeds grow where there is no marsh? Can bulrushes flourish where there is no water?" (Job 8:11). Both man and beast would perish if there were not herbs for food; herbs would wither and die if the earth were not refreshed with fruitful showers. Therefore is God called the Preserver of "man and beast." (Psalm 36:6), upholding all things by the word of His power." (Hebrews 1:3).

What a marvel of divine power is the prenatal life of every human being! That an infant can live at all, and for so many months, in such cramped and filthy quarters, and that without breathing, is unaccountable without the power of God. Truly He "holds our soul in life". (Psalm 66:9). What a standing monument to the power of God!

Consider God's power in GOVERNMENT. Take His restraining of the malice of satan. "The devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8). He is filled with hatred against God, and with fiendish enmity against men, particularly the saints. HAe who envied Adam in paradise, envies us the pleasure of enjoying any of God's blessings. Could he have his will, he would treat all the same way he treated Job - he would send fire from Heaven on the fruits of the earth, destroy the cattle, cause a wind to overthrow our houses, and cover our bodies with boils. But little as men may realize it, God bridles him to a large extent, prevents him from carrying out his evil designs, and confines him within His ordinations.

So too, God restrains the natural corruption of men. He allows sufficient outbreakings of sin to show what fearful havoc has been wrought by man's apostasy from his Maker, ut who can conceive the frightful lengths to which men would go were God to remove His curbing hand? "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood." (Romans 3:14, 15). This is the nature of every descendant of Adam. Then what unbridled licentiousness and headstrong folly would triumph in the world, if the power of God did not interpose to lock down the floodgates of it! See Psalm 93:3, 4.

Consider God's power in JUDGMENT. When He smites, none can resist Him, see Ezekiel 22:14. How terribly this was exemplified at the Flood! God opened the windows of Heaven and broke up the great fountains of the deep, and (excepting those in the ark) the entire human race, helpless before the storm of His wrath, was swept away.

What a terrific word is that in Romans 9:22: "What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." God is going to display His mighty power upon the reprobate not merely by incarcerating them in Gehenna, but by supernaturally preserving their bodies as well as souls amid the eternal burnings of the Lake of Fire.

Well may all tremble before such a God! To treat with impudence One who can crush us more easily than we can a moth, is a suicidal policy. To openly defy Him is the very height of insanity. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him." (Psalm 2:12).

Well may the enlightened soul adore such a God! The wondrous and infinite perfections of such a Being call for fervent worship. "Who among the gods is like You, O Lord? Who is like You - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?"

Well may the saint trust such a God! He is worthy of implicit confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him. But seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence no prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no need is too great for Him to supply, no passion too strong for Him to subdue, no temptation too powerful for Him to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1).

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21).

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)