Special Encouragement from God’s Word Day 10
He is Able
By Major Beth Desplancke
Territorial Women’s Ministries Program Secretary
Read Jeremiah 32:16-27.
There’s a chorus that many of us learned as kids. It says, “My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do.” It is easy to sing this, but do we truly believe it? Be honest. In your heart of hearts is there something in your life that you are struggling with that you think God can’t deal with?
Our first response is to say “no,” but what situation are you facing that you are stressing about or trying to solve on your own? Anything that we are stressing about is simply our way of telling God that the situation is impossible for Him to deal with and thus our need to worry. Worry is unbelief and lack of trust in God. By worrying and fretting over a situation, we are saying that God is not able to deal with it.
Jeremiah was commissioned by God to proclaim a very unpopular message that Judah was about to be destroyed by the powerful country of Babylon. That was his job. Beginning in chapter 30, Jeremiah looks beyond the impending judgment to Judah’s restoration and salvation. God’s people will be conquered and then deported to Babylon, but will return 70 years later.
In chapter 32, the prophet has been imprisoned again. The king was upset because Jeremiah was advocating that they surrender to the Babylonian Army. We see in v. 2 that Nebuchadnezzar and his army were right outside the walls of Jerusalem. Amazingly, in all this chaos and uncertainty, God tells Jeremiah to buy some property from his cousin. This is strange when you think about it because the entire land was about to be subjected to years of desolation, filled with darkness and despair. God makes it clear to Jeremiah that the land ultimately would be restored.
Things don’t make a lot of sense to Jeremiah – it seems like an impossible situation. But Jeremiah looks to God and not what is impossible and prays a beautiful prayer proclaiming God is able!
1. God is Able… Because He is Over-All!
The first attribute of God we see is that God is over-all or He is sovereign. Two times in this passages, verses 17 and 25, Jeremiah calls God sovereign. God is sovereign means that He is in control. The word “sovereign” is both a noun and a verb. As a verb it means “to rule” and as a noun it means “king” or “absolute ruler”. To say that God is sovereign, is to say that God is in charge of the entire universe all the time. In a nutshell, God’s sovereignty means that He is absolutely free to do as He pleases and to demonstrate His absolute control over the actions of all His creatures. Sovereignty reminds us that God is God and we are not.
God is sovereign because He is the creator of everything, verse 17. God’s sovereignty is demonstrated by His performing miraculous signs and wonders in the Israelites’ lives, v. 20-21. God’s sovereignty is demonstrated by the fact that He is punishing the Israelites’ for failing to obey Him, v. 23-25.
2. God is Able… Because He is Omnipotent!
Omnipotent refers to the fact that God’s power is infinite and unlimited. The word omnipotent is defined by the biblical word, “Almighty,” which occurs 345 times in the Bible, and it is never used of anyone but God. Jeremiah calls God Almighty in verse 18.
Throughout history, God has revealed His power through mighty miracles over nature. No one else could part a sea and allow people to walk on dry land between two walls of water; but God can! No one else can tell the winds and wave to stop and they obey; but God can. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to help us with our daily problems.
When we say God is omnipotent, we’re saying that He has the ability or the strength to perform anything He needs to perform, to accomplish His purposes.
3. God is Able… Because He is Omniscient!
Omniscient means having total knowledge or knowing everything. In verses 19 and 24, Jeremiah describes God as being able to see everything. Nothing escapes His attention and nothing is out of His concern.
When circumstances of life overwhelm, when we feel like we’ve been treated unfairly, we can be sure that we serve a “God who sees.” He sees and knows our circumstances. He sees the beginning and the end and everything in between. He sees every detail.
Gospel songwriter, Oscar Ebason, in 1945 wrote these words: Got any rivers you think are uncrossable; got any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible; He does things other cannot do.
God specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too difficult for Him! He truly is able!
“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you….[He is] the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for [Him]?” Jeremiah 32:17, 27.
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