God: Omnipotent
God: Omnipotent
Omnipotence Questioned
A Bible class teacher was examining her pupils after a series of lessons on God's omnipotence. She asked, "Is there anything God cannot do?"
There was silence. Finally, one lad held up his hand. The teacher, disappointed that the lesson's point had been missed, asked resignedly, "Well, just what is it that God cannot do?"
"Well," replied the boy, "He can't please everybody."
Let the Fire Fall
Years ago, before we became conscious of ecology, tourists at Yosemite Park were treated to a nightly display that never failed to please the huge crowds that gathered to witness this demonstration. High over the valley floor, the park rangers would set a number of logs on fire and wait downstream near one of those marvelous precipitous waterfalls that grace that magnificent valley. When the hour of darkness had finally arrived, the sonorous voice of a park ranger would ring out from the valley floor: "Let the fire fall!"
Then the moment would come which all had waited so patiently to witness; a hail of sparks and flames would appear as the waters carried the burning logs over the brink of the falls and down the steep descent of several hundred feet to the valley floor and the waiting stream. The crowd loved it. The fire fell along with the water. It appeared to happen as if it were solely at the command of one man with a booming and demanding voice-as if he had some special contact with heaven itself.
If that is how it appeared to these campers in Yosemite Park, how must if have appeared to those somewhat skeptical Israelite fence-sitters who refused to adopt whole-heartedly Yahweh or Baal as their God? For just as surely as the park ranger called, "Let the fire fall," so this rustic from the backwoods area of Israel called to the living God. He did not rig his demonstration-this was the real thing. It was so real it was terrifying. Anything that would eat up rocks, dust, water, animals, and all has got to be some sort of supernatural display.
Accordingly, God gives us three "demonstrations" of His power in 1 Kings 18. He demontrates His power through his messenger Elijah in verses 1-20; in His actions by sending fire to burn the sacrifice (verses 21-40); and in His answers to prayer when he relieves the drought in verses 41-46. Where God Ain't
He was just a little lad,
And on the week's first day,
Was wandering home from Sunday School,
And dawdling along the way.
He scuffed his shoes into the grass;
He found a caterpillar;
He found a fluffy milkweed pod,
And flew out all the filler.
A bird's nest in a tree o'head
So wisely placed and high,
Was just another wonder
That caught his eager eye.
A neighbor watched his zigzag course,
And hailed him from the lawn;
Asked him where he'd been that day,
And what was going on.
"Oh, I've been to Sunday School.
(He carefully turned a sod
And found a snail beneath it);
I've learned a lot about God."
"M'm'm, a very fine way," the neighbor said,
"For a boy to spend his time;
If you'll tell me where God is,
I'll give you a brand new dime."
Quick as a flash his answer came!
Nor were his accents faint-
"I'll give you a dollar, Mister,
If you tell me where God ain't."