Before the Flood, God had said, “Come into the ark” (Gen. 7:1, NKJV). The clear implication was that God was already inside, inviting Noah to join Him there. After the Flood, when God said, “Come out of the ark” (Gen. 8:16, NIV), the implication is that He had left and was asking Noah to follow. The great God of the Exodus Who led His people out of bondage to slavery in Egypt, parting the Red Sea to allow them to pass on dry ground and so escape the armies of Pharaoh – that same great God led Noah, his wife, his sons, his sons’ wives, and all the animals out of the ark!
God’s greatness has not been diluted in any way over the years of time. He is just as great today as He has been in the past. So why do you think He cannot lead you out of trouble? Why would you think He cannot lead your entire life so that you find peace and fulfillment? Why do you think He is unable to lead your children in the right direction that will be pleasing to Him and good for them? God is great!
“The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:12, NIV).
Through the power of His Word, God brought beauty to the barrenness and added color to the drabness. God did not create anything new. He just called it forth from what was already present, because apparently that which was necessary for plant life was in the soil.
It doesn’t matter if your life has always been dry, barren, bleak, desolate, and ugly, or if it has become that way because of some tragedy or crisis. If you submit your life to the skillful touch of the Creator, He has the power to transform you into someone who is beautiful – beautiful not because of a toned physique or a perfect figure or manageable hair but because the life of Christ radiates from within you: His joy sparkling from your eyes, His love lighting up your face.
The apostle Paul went through a period of intense suffering that he described as being impaled with a spike! He testified that three times he pleaded with God to remove the suffering, but his prayer was unanswered. When he must have cried out through clenched teeth, “Why?” God reassured him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul’s response indicates he caught sight of the big picture when he responded, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10, NIV).
What kinds of trials have caused you to suffer? Could it be God has given you a platform of suffering from which you can be a witness of His power and grace to those who are watching?
The crowning jewel of Creation was man himself. He was created for a distinct purpose. If the purpose is lived out, life is fulfilling. If the purpose is rejected or ignored, life will never be what it was meant to be.
A light bulb is a simple glass globe. If placed on a desk or table, it is meaningless as well as useless. But if it is fitted into a lamp and plugged into a power source, it fulfills its purpose for existence, taking on meaning as a source of light that is useful for daily living.
Apart from the Creator’s purpose, you and I are like a light bulb lying in a meaningless, useless state. We need to fit into the Creator’s original design, plugging into the power source – our relationship with Him – if our lives are to be what they were meant to be.
What problem are you facing that is bigger than you are? Praise God for the omnipotence of Jesus Christ! He is the Almighty – mightier than all. Greater, more powerful, than any problem or situation you or I will ever face. In fact, one reason God allows us to have problems and be in situations that seem bigger than we are is so we can discover His “incomparably great power for us who believe.”
If our lives are easy, and if all we ever attempt for God is what we know we can handle, how will we ever experience His omnipotence in our lives?
It is when we are in over our heads . . .
when we are cornered with no way out . . .
when we are facing the Red Sea in front of us, the desert on either side of us, and the Egyptian army in back of us . . .
that’s when we discover His power!
