Power

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.”  1 Chronicles 29:11

Power – Mighty deeds and incredible power!  David extols God’s strength with the word ge’vurah.  God not only performs amazing deeds, He does it with tremendous displays of power.  Just imagine what it must have been like crossing the Red Sea.  Just imagine the sight of fire coming down from heaven to consume Elijah’s altar.  David is overwhelmed with the power of his God.

This history lesson is very important.  We don’t always see God show up in powerful deeds.  We pray for relief or rescue and nothing happens.  We plead for someone’s help and God is strangely quiet.  David knew what that was like, but it did not stop his proclamation of God’s strength.  David remembered what God did with his ancestors.  And David knew that God’s character hadn’t changed.  It is a lesson we need to learn.

Have you experienced the power of the living God?  If God has given you the privilege of witnessing His intervention, you are truly blessed.  You are one of the fortunate ones.  Most of us are like David.  We didn’t stand on the shore when the sea opened.  We weren’t in the crowd when the fire came down.  We weren’t at the tomb when the stone rolled away.  But we still know that God is great and powerful because we know that God doesn’t change.  What He did before He can do again.  And He will, when He chooses to. 

Can you extol the power of God without being an eyewitness?  Does your heart open in song at the thought of His majesty simply because you know the history?  Or are you standing on the sidelines waiting for God to prove His power to you? 

David didn’t see any of the great events of Israel’s history but he knew his Lord.  David knew the power of personal intimacy with the God of power.  He knew when God’s hand rescued him and when it disciplined him.  David opened his heart to God and God opened His arms to David. 

We serve the God of power.  Many times that power is displayed in ways that are hard to comprehend for the God of power often appears as the God of powerlessness.  God’s way is the way of the cross, of humility, of obedience and of selfless giving.  It is the paradox of the powerful, the strength to give away your strength.