One of our favorite family stories happened when I was pregnant with our third (and final) child. I was preparing my toddler and preschool boys for what was to come—for me, for them, and for our family.
But as I described the work involved in labor and birth, my then four-year-old son was skeptical. He looked at me and asked how hard birthing a baby was really.
“Oh” I replied, “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
He looked more skeptical still, then asked, “Well, have you ever moved furniture?”
That’s a great punchline, and I’ll never let him forget it. But I think many of us carry a similar degree of ignorance about what strength and power really are. We measure these things based on how much we can carry, how many people we could overtake, how likely we are to win a physical contest.
What a weak definition of strength and power that is! How much more strength does it take to create and birth new life than to move a couch? How much more strength does it take to love and serve our enemies rather than fear and hate them? How much more power does it require to defuse a situation rather than lose our tempers and trigger a situation?
Of course, there is a time for loading the moving van just as there is a time to give birth; a time to fight to save a life and a time to lay down our lives; a time to call upon our adrenaline and a time to calm down. But we will not fully understand what it means for God to be powerful if we have a limited understanding of power.
As we end today, consider these verses from Psalm 147. Here we see a variety of ways that God does or doesn’t demonstrate power. What do you see here?
“Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.
The Lord sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.
He covers the sky with clouds;
he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.
He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.
His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
the Lord delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
Psalm 147:1-11
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- What comes to mind when you think about power and strength?
- How are our assumptions limited?
- What ways do you see God acting powerfully in this Psalm?
- How do they contradict our assumptions?
Church Reading Plan: Isaiah 43; Revelation 13