All-Powerful to Save

June 16, 2024 homily on Psalm 20 by Pastor Galen

Would you rather save time or money?

Like many people in our society, I am always looking for ways to save time and money. But I’ve found that saving both time and money is often difficult, if not impossible.

I know of one woman who would sit down every week and compare all the grocery store advertisements from the Sunday newspaper, and clip and organize all the coupons. Then she would drive around to all the different grocery stores in the city to get the best deals. In the end, she spent a lot of time (and money buying gasoline for her car) trying to save money.

I don’t love to spend a lot of money on things, but I will often spend extra money on something if I think it will save me time in the long run. Several years ago I acquired a robotic lawnmower–basically, it’s like a Roomba for your yard that constantly goes around trimming the grass in your yard. It sounds dangerous, but it’s actually quite safe. It’s quiet, and it can even operate at night. Unfortunately, if there are any large rocks or bumps or hills in the yard it will get stuck and I’ll need to go out and restart it, or take it back to the charging station. And quite frequently I need to repair the boundary wire that keeps it from escaping from the yard. In the end, I’m sure that I’ve spent more time and money on this “time-saving” device than if I just used a traditional lawnmower!

The point is that as people we are finite beings, with limited resources, and so we are constantly forced to choose between saving time, money, and any number of other things. Even the wealthiest people in the world have a limited amount of time, and no amount of money can keep us alive on this earth forever. Our limited access to resources is part of what it means to be human.

God Almighty

Fortunately, God does not have the same limitations that we have. Throughout the Scriptures, God is frequently described as “almighty,” meaning that God is the ruler of the universe and holds sway over all things, and there is nothing in the world more powerful than God.

This means that God’s power is never in short supply, because God has access to unlimited resources. Time is not a limiting factor to God. God is eternal. God has always been, and God always will be.  Neither does God have to worry about money, since everything in the world belongs to God. In Psalm 50, we are reminded that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10), and the Apostle Paul, when speaking about Jesus in his letter to the Colossians, says, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossian 1:16-17). 

There certainly are a lot of things in our world that feel chaotic. Often it feels like the world is spinning out of control. And yet Scripture reminds us that Jesus is actively at work in the world, holding all things together, bringing good where there is evil, restoring peace where there is violence, and bringing healing and wholeness where there is brokenness. And he invites and empowers us as humans to participate with God in God’s restorative work in the world.

Neither a Puppetmaster Nor a Genie

Sometimes when people hear God described as “Almighty” they take this to mean that everything that happens in the world has been preordained or predestined by God. Some people see God as some sort of divine puppet master, controlling all of the events in the world, giving us the perception that we have free will, all while controlling every thought or action we take.

On the other end of the spectrum, some people think of God as genie that we can try to manipulate to grant our every wish or desire. They only pray to God when they need something, hoping that God will give them what they ask for, and then they are disappointed when they don’t get it.

But God is not a genie who grants our every wish. Rather, in Matthew 7:11 Jesus describes God as a Father who gives “good gifts to those who ask him.” This does not mean that God will always give us what we want, but it does mean that we can and should trust God for our most basic daily needs. As we pray in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” Notice that Jesus didn’t instruct us to pray for wealth or fame, or for God to grant our every wish or desire, but rather he taught us to depend on God and trust that God knows our needs and our desires, and that surely God has our best interests in mind.

Neither is God a divine puppet master who is manipulating our every thought and action. Rather, we see in the Genesis account of Creation that God gave people the power to choose between right and wrong. God even planted a tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree and warned them of the repercussions for doing so, but God did not intervene to stop them from doing so. 

The language that is used in Genesis 1 is that of ruling. God gave people “dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28), empowering us to make real decisions with the limited resources we’ve been given that affect ourselves and others.

So we see here in these first few chapters of Genesis that God empowers us to make our own choices and decisions, and often allows us to face the consequences of our actions or inactions to help us learn and grow. God seems to be committed to giving us free will. If we open ourselves up to God’s guidance and direction God will lead us to make the right decisions, but if we choose to go our own way God will often allow us to do so, even when it grieves God’s heart. And yet we can trust that if and when we turn to God in repentance and trust, God is there to heal and forgive and set us back on the right path.

Certainly there are bad things that happen in the world that cannot always be blamed on humans. Natural disasters occur, and we don’t always know why. But quite frequently the impact of these natural disasters is increased or decreased by our actions or inactions. Once again, we see God giving us the freedom to make decisions about how we will prepare or respond to the forces of nature that bring calamity in our world. Will we use our limited resources to help others, or will we try to hold onto them for ourselves? Will we trust that if we part with our limited resources to help others God will provide for our own needs? Here again, we see God giving us freedom to choose, and inviting us into a deeper relationship of trust and dependence on God.

Eternal Life

Of course, there is more to this world than what we can experience with our senses, and humans are more than just physical bodies. There is a spiritual realm, and we as people have bodies, minds, and souls. In fact, it has been said that “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; [but rather] we are spiritual beings having a human experience” (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin). God’s almighty power to save is on display in the spiritual realm  as well as the physical realm.

This doesn’t mean that God is only concerned with the salvation of our souls, as some have suggested. But it does mean that God cares for our whole being, and that certainly includes our souls. In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly,” and John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Certainly, our time on this earth is limited, but Jesus came to give us eternal life, abundant life, which starts here and now when we put our faith and trust in Christ, and will last through all eternity. 

Implications of God’s Almighty Power To Save

What, then, are the implications of God being all-powerful to save?

1. We can put our complete faith and trust in Christ, above all else. As King David said in Psalm 20, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). There is nothing and no one in the world more powerful than God. We never have to worry or fear, but rather we can trust that God is holding all things in the world together and that God is holding us in the palm of God’s hand. 

2. We should not assume that every evil deed or natural disaster has been ordained by God, nor that God will always rescue us from every struggle that we face in life. But we can take comfort in the fact that God is with us each and every step of the way. And we should seek God’s direction about how to best respond to the needs in the world around us.

This is why we utilize the best research and knowledge that is out there in the world, so that we can learn to make the best and most informed decisions possible, not only for ourselves, but also for the needs of those around us. This is why we need people to study math, and science, and psychology, and theology, computer science, and the list could go on and on. As people we have been empowered to make real decisions that affect ourselves and other people. We have a limited amount of time on this earth, and we have a limited amount of resources. We need God’s wisdom and guidance about how to best utilize the time and resources we’ve been given. 

3. We can trust that there is more to this life than what we can see, taste, smell, hear, or feel, and that Jesus cares not only about our physical and mental well-being, but our spiritual well-being as well. Jesus came to set us free from the power of sin and death, and to give us abundant and eternal life in Him.

And so let us praise God who knows everything about us, and whose love never fails. And let us praise our God who is all-powerful to save. There are a lot of things we can put our faith and trust in in this world, but there is nothing and no one more powerful than God. And so let us trust in God, who is all-powerful to save, and let us participate with God in God’s work of redemption and restoration in this world.

Amen!

Let us Pray:

Triune God, We confess that we don’t always like the way your power works. We blame you for all that goes wrong in the world, and yet we forget that you empower us to resist evil. We want you to help us in exactly the way we ask, and yet we forget that we are not the authors of our own salvation. We say we desire for your kin-dom to come, and yet, we forget to listen to your voice calling us to work for the flourishing of our neighbors. Forgive us, Holy Trinity, and free us to cooperate with you in the work of salvation for ourselves, our community, and all of creation. Amen.

Questions for Individual Reflection:

1. In what ways do I recognize my own limitations regarding time and money? How do I handle the stress that comes with managing these limited resources?
2. How does understanding God’s unlimited power and resources impact my perspective on my own limitations?
3. Do I feel empowered by God to make choices, or do I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the responsibility?
4. How can I better seek God’s direction in responding to the needs and challenges around me?
5. How am I using my skills and knowledge to contribute to God’s work in the world?