It is impossible to fathom just how powerful God is. When we think of His size, Isaiah 40:12 asks rhetorically, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” While I do not imagine that God literally has a cosmic-sized scale to measure the weight of the mountains and hills, we do know that He is omniscient, meaning that He knows everything from how many galaxies and stars there are (He made them all!) to how much the mountains weigh, to how many hairs we have on our heads (Matthew 10:30)!
Even in the resurrection, the foundation of the Christian faith, we see His immense power. He is able to defeat death, and that was 2000 years ago! In modern times, there is a general arrogance that goes with scientific and technological advancement that over the past century has had man believe that it is only a matter of time before we “have it all figured out.” However, a simple look around at the manifold problems around us makes it clear that while we have new technology and have discovered some of the details of how biological and chemical processes happen in our world, there is less certainty than ever before in human history as to the “how” or “why” behind human life. The more knowledge science gains, the more it realizes for itself that there are no limits to the intricacies of our universe. From the molecular level to the cosmological: the more we learn, the more apparent it is that we know relatively nothing! While remarkable medical advances are made all the time, science will never be able to produce an “answer” or “cure” to death. This side of eternity, there will always be more to learn, understand, and “fix.” This is the reason faith in God is so important. He is so far beyond us that we have no reason to fear what we do not know, because He knows everything! Humanity will never come close to knowing a fraction of what God knows, and while to some that may sound daunting, there is actually great comfort in that!
Look at what Paul says in Ephesians 3:14-21…
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Paul is praying for the Ephesians to be strong in the Lord, “according to the riches of His glory.” In the natural world, we see the richness of His glory, and the very power of the natural processes set in place and maintained by God Himself is the same power Paul is invoking to strengthen the Ephesians, because it comes from the same source! Put another way: the power that created the world and holds it together and the power that keeps us moving forward in Christ are from the same source: God Himself! He has demonstrated His power to us in a multitude of ways that we cannot even see or understand, and Paul is confident in His use of that power to strengthen His people with power, even to their “inner being.” What an encouragement to think that God is using His incomprehensible power to comfort and strengthen us as we go through day-to-day life serving Him.
Paul goes on to appeal to the Ephesians to be “rooted and grounded in love.” We know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and again, when we look at creation, the cross, and God’s daily provision for our needs, we see His immense love. There is nothing more stabilizing in this world than the love of God. When we set our eyes on Him, and take a moment to meditate on and absorb all that He is, does, and has done for us, we can rest assured in the fact that if He loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, He will be faithful in His blessings to us. Beyond that, Paul says that because we belong to Him, we can be filled with all the fullness of God! Things may not be perfect in this world, but we have the power of God at work within us, and He cannot be stopped!
Finally, Paul glorifies God and takes a moment to remind the Ephesians (and us) just how powerful He is. He is able to do “far more abundantly than all we ask or think”! Paul reminds us in the most extreme language he knows to use that God is infinitely, immeasurably more powerful than we can imagine. He is eternal, His ways are “unsearchable,” and yet He created us so that He could love us and so that we could be His. What a blessing to serve a God that is “immeasurably more” than we are, in every way imaginable!
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