Our Great, and Glorious, and Powerful of God - How do these words grip you?
For some the works of God in creation first to spring to mind: the crashing waves of the vast sea, or the rugged and towering mountains reaching into the sky.
This is power.
For others the Mighty Power of God does not take their minds to a magnificent physical display of power or grandeur, but this week God has graciously given them a new son, a new life to protect and nourish. A new life they will honor and cherish.
This is power.
For others the Mighty Power of God causes them to rejoice today that there is food on their table today; bills are paid, and their car is running. They fall in worship today as God provides their physical needs.
Yes, these are all displays of God's power.
However, for some today the words we say and sing are simply words to you.
God is Great, Glorious, and Mighty; these truths mean very little to you. They seem to be simply words.
We want them to mean something to us. We want these words to speak into our lives. We want these words about God to change us. We want to be awed by these words. We desire with all of our souls to be affected by these words. We want these words to be more than just mere words.
We want these words to become to us truth on fire. We want the truth of these words to burn in us.
This we know; these words are nothing without the Mighty Power of God intersecting our lives at our greatest and deepest need.
Jesus, the personal display of the power of God, steps into history as the "radiance of the glory of God . . . and upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:3). The apostle Paul says that he is not ashamed to proclaim the gospel - this good news of Jesus - "for [the gospel] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16).
Jesus himself says, "I came into this world, that those who do not see may see" (John 9:39).
Jesus came to open the eyes of the spiritually blind, so that you may see Jesus for who he is in all his Glorious Might and Power.
The apostle John tells us about Jesus, "All who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). And again the scriptures tells us, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).
Yes, all of us are in desperate need of the Mighty Power of God. We all are blind by our sin; we all need to be adopted as Children of God and delivered from our sin; and yes, we all are in the depths of poverty.
Let us believe, embrace, and worship Jesus, the Mighty Power of God who enters our lives to bring us to salvation. He is our Great, Glorious, and Mighty God. He is our Savior.