By Alex Early
In order to consider who we are in light of who God is, we are spending three weeks looking at three of God’s incommunicable attributes:
- Omniscience: Knowing Everything
- Omnipresence: Being Everywhere
- Omnipotence: Possessing Limitless Power
Over the past two weeks, we looked at the first two of these attributes, omniscience and omnipresence. Today, we examine the third attribute, omnipotence.
We Can’t Do It All
In a prior post we talked about the doctrine of omniscience, and what goes wrong with being know-it-alls. Here we are taking a quick look at the doctrine of omnipotence (which means to be all-powerful), and our temptation to be (and delusion that we are able to be) do-it-alls.
In a world that praises the super-talented, get-it-done folks, the temptation to rise up and be the omnipotent One is big. And yet, we all know the massive problems that arise when we forget our finitude, being limited by size, space, and time. We are made in the image of God which is very different from saying that we are God. Attempting to be a do-it-all is the fastest way to exhaustion and frustration.
Millard Erickson writes:
“Three elements must be present if we are to accomplish an ethical action: knowledge of what is to be done; the will to do it, and the ability to do what we have purposed. We may fail at any of these points. However, three factors of God’s nature always come together to produce correct action: he is wise, so that he knows what to do; he is good, and thus he chooses to do the right; he is powerful, and therefore capable of doing what he wills to do.”[1]
The Struggle Is Real
We live in an age where so many feel that they lack any purpose in the world. Simultaneously, there are countless people who have great ambition to go, do, be, and produce. I want to speak to the latter (of which I am in that number). Many of us need to pull the reins in a bit and acknowledge that we don’t always have all the power to do what we would like to do.
If you’re creative, a dreamer, a visionary, one who possess the raw talent to get a lot of things done – you’ll face the temptation to forget Who is actually omnipotent and thus bite off a bit more than you can chew. Our families, friends, teams, and coworkers around us can all see it as well. They see us struggling. We need to be reminded that Jesus invited us to “rest” (Matt. 11:28), not to work. And yet, that resting leads to fruitful work. Paul said it this way, “God who works in us to will and do for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).
Koheleth, da Vinci, and St. Paul
It goes without saying that Leonardo da Vinci possessed a mind and ability unlike anyone else. What he envisioned and accomplished still causes us to drop our jaws in awe. A few months before da Vinci died, he came to the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan to learn that his now infamous Last Supper was being damaged from moisture. Just before he passed away, in the tone of Koheleth (the preacher in Ecclesiastes), he wrote in very small print, “We should not desire the impossible.”
We simply don’t have the power to do any and everything under the sun. God does. This isn’t intended to deflate, demotivate, or crush dreams. Nor is it to tell you to stop stretching yourself, or not to go for it. Quite the opposite. Paul himself apparently worked harder than any of his co-workers. And yet, look at how he talked about it:
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Cor. 15:10)
Get Your Strength From Someone Else
Did you catch that? Paul knew it wasn’t his job to be omnipotent. He leaned into the grace and power of God. Be encouraged as you to look to the One who spoke the universe into being and continues to remain unshaken. God, the omnipotent One, brought light out of darkness, a baby through the virgin, and even raised(es) the dead. Such power belongs to him, and nothing with him is impossible (Lk. 1:37). Leaning into God’s strength allows you to pull back, realizing that you don’t have to do it all. Or, in the words of Thomas Merton, “Take more time. Cover less ground.”
[1] Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 303.
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