Omnipotent means all-powerful, or possessing infinite power. From the Latin omni (all) potens (powerful).
All-powerful. Another description of another aspect of God’s infinitude. And another concept that we, as humans, have no frame of reference to fully understand.
If I said that God was powerful, then your mind might say, OK. I generally know what powerful means. I get it.
If I said that God was more powerful, or most powerful, your mind might even still have some concept to grasp. Just take the most powerful thing you know - say a hurricane, or a tsunami, and say that God is more powerful than that, and viola - I understand God…
But no, I said that God is all-powerful. …and the mind has nothing to hold onto.
Forget about a hurricane, or a tsunami. Forget about an asteroid collision, or the amount of energy burned by the sun every moment. Forget about the force exerted by the rotation of the Milky Way Galaxy, or even the force exerted by two galaxies colliding. That is an unfathomable amount of power, and even those are mere ants under God’s feet.
God has the power to speak the universe into existence!
God has the power to silently shape and direct all of reality - simply by willing it to be so.
Don’t think of it so much as God having power, instead realize that He is the source of all power. God doesn’t just have power. God’s power is power.
God doesn’t obey the laws of physics; God defines the laws of physics. He doesn’t follow moral guidelines; He defines morality. He doesn’t struggle to overcome challenges; He allows challenges to exist.
Now, we tend to think that if God was so powerful then surely He would not allow this or that tragic thing to happen. If He’s so good, and loving, and powerful, then there’s no way…
Ah, but that’s a trick that our minds like to play. We think we are appealing to some moral high-ground, when in fact we are trying to judge God. We know what we feel, and what we think, and we assume that God must surely feel and think the same thing, and either refuse or be powerless to do anything about it.
But God knows everything (a concept which we cannot grasp), and God is everywhere (again, something beyond our understanding), and God has the power to allow that situation to exist - or not. And God has a plan, and He works all things for His good. And that situation existed. And you cannot fathom how God could have let it exist. So what does that tell you?
Does it tell you that all of a sudden you should be in control of the universe because you know better? No. It tells you that you have come up against your limits, not that God has come up against His. God is not threatened by that situation. He may be grieved by it - but He is powerful enough to overcome it, so He is not threatened by it. There’s something about that situation that is part of God’s plan. That doesn’t mean that it was part of your plan, but it either directly contributed to His plan, or did not cause any deviation from His plan, so He allowed it to happen.
This can be a hard thing to accept and understand. I know. I lived many years of my life wandering why God would let things happen the way they did. I tried rejecting God, I tried reasoning with God, I tried everything I could think of to understand. Then, one day, God told me to get out of the way. It was then that I realized that I didn’t need to understand everything. I realized that even if I did understanding everything, it wouldn’t change anything. I learned that I needed, not to know and understand God, but to trust God. And, funny enough, I found that the more I trusted God the more I actually got to know and understand Him.
I started to look back and realize that I was being shaped, and the person I was being shaped into was actually a blessing to others. It wasn’t easy to be shaped, but I was becoming the person that God wanted me to be - for His plan and purpose.
And I think that’s true for all of us. God has a plan and purpose for all of us. And for those who are faithful to Him, He also has rewards in store. A person’s life might be short or long, bad or good, but their purpose is determined by God. Sometimes we need a gentle word and a soft hand to shape us - and other times we need a harsh rebuke and an iron fist to knock some of the rough edges off of us. Sometimes too many soft hands and words produces the hardest of hearts that reject God. Sometimes it’s those who have been pushed and kicked that have the kind of gentle spirit that God desires. It’s certainly not fun to go through, but it can also be the best way to produce the best fruit.
I bring this up because that’s part of God’s power. He understands how to use it effectively. He knows how hard or soft to be. He knows what it will do. Like how the Bible says that He hardened Pharaoh’s heart. I don’t think God instantaneously hardened Pharaoh’s heart. I think He gave Pharaoh a life of ease and comfort and withheld all the tenderizing work of adversity from Him - and God knew that the result of that would be a stone cold heart - ripe for God to show His power against, as part of His plan.
I’m not saying that all bad times produce good people, or good times bad people, or that God fully intends to either coddle or brutalize us. Don’t let your mind try to find a shortcut here. What I’m saying is that God has wisdom, time, presence and power beyond anything we can comprehend, and we need to trust Him. We belong to Him. He created us. We have no right to expect Him to do anything according to our will, and we have every obligation to do things according to His. He did not create us for our own pleasure, He created us for His pleasure. He did not create us for our glory, He created us for His glory.
He is all-powerful, and the best way that we can live is surrendered and submitted to Him. Anything else will not hurt Him, but will surely hurt us. And He did not create us so that He could use His power against us, but so that we could partner with Him and cooperate with Him. His power is at our disposal if we use it according to His plan and purpose. But if we try to use it for our own plan and purpose we are going to run into a brick wall every time.
So, trust God. Surrender to His will. Be comforted knowing that He is absolutely in control of everything, using it all for His good, and that He created you as part of that. And partner with Him in carrying out His plan.
Job 1:12 (NLT) “All right, you may test him,” the LORD said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence.
Psalm 115:3 (NLT) But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Jeremiah 32:17 (NLT) “O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!
Matthew 19:26 (NLT) The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
Mark 14:36 (NLT) “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
John 19:11 (NLT) Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
Romans 11:36 (NLT) For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.
Ephesians 1:11 (NLT) Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
Hebrews 1:3 (NLT) The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.