I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the very modern hymns.
Today’s song is God is Able It’s from 2011.
I never need to remind myself or persuade myself that God is able. If He is God, of course he’s able. For me, it’s more a matter of whether God is willing. But maybe I could persuade myself that despite all the things that might make God unwilling to help me, I can consider the fact that He knows the end from the beginning. He saw my faults and failings before the world was even created. And when Jesus died for my sins, I wasn’t even born. But He knew that He was dying for sinners.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So, when things go wrong in life, we know that God is able to fix them, and if He is unwilling, we know that He has a better plan in mind. For example, if we have some medical disorder, we might ask the doctor for some medication, but he’ll sometimes say no, because he realizes that this might not be the best way to deal with the issue.
At times, a doctor might get things wrong, but God never gets things wrong. So, maybe I can remind myself that God is able. Because we’re dealing with humans throughout our lives, perhaps we sometimes unknowingly, in our minds, restrict God to a being with merely human attributes. We might think of how we’d behave if we were God and expect Him to be the same. But He is much more. It’s true that we are made in his image. I sometimes think of a little toy soldier being made in the image of a human. It looks a little like a human, but humans have much more to them than little toy soldiers. And God has much more to Him than human attributes.
And the Apostle Paul reminded the Ephesians that God is Able:
Ephesians 3:20
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
And here are some other verses that emphasize God’s ability:
Genesis 18:14
Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Dan 3:17
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.
Jude 24
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy
Today’s hymn touches on the resurrection, which is particularly significant. Humans have achieved great things, but who has ever defeated death?
Lifted up, He defeated the grave
Raised to life, our God is able
In His name, we overcome
For the Lord our God is able
If Jesus had merely died and hadn’t risen, his disciples might have just gone back to their old jobs. Or they might have begun a little Jewish sect that would soon have been forgotten.
Two things made all the difference, the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Hundreds witnessed the risen Christ, and thousands, who made up the church in the years following, were in a position to investigate it. Some Greeks, such as the Christians in Corinth, might have seen little point in a physical resurrection, but it happened, and it’ll happen to all of us. Paul explains all that in 1 Corinthians 15.
God created us physical beings. I can understand why some might prefer to escape from the body, but we’ll be perfectly pleased with out heavenly bodies. The fact that we will rise indicates that there’s some connection to our earthly bodies, but they’ll be transformed too. So everyone will be happy, at least everyone in heaven.
Hibernia Gospel 