How do you paint a picture of an immeasurable power?
Eph. 1:20-21
20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
This passage is part of a greater prayer of Paul’s that we might know the inheritance and hope we have in Christ. He does this by trying to paint a picture of God’s “immeasurable” power – which at first might seem a paradox. But in this passage, Paul moves from an earthly to a supernatural comparison, which in my mind still leaves us in awe of how little we can comprehend God’s power.
It’s easy to imagine someone greater than our Prime Minister, even maybe our Queen, but it gets a bit harder to imagine something greater than all “power and dominion” – which invokes a sense of the heavenly and supernatural. But once he raised Jesus from the dead, that’s where God has placed him.
And if you can get your head around all of that, we’re told that he is over not just everyone in the present age, but the one to come – introducing an eternal element.
I don’t know about you, but I find myself treating God like a genie in a lamp, ready to grant my wishes, asking him for what I want to be fulfilled. But when I stop and meditate on just how powerful God is, I am convicted of 2 things. 1) just how petty my wishes are; and 2) how I am tempted to still not trust that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can imagine. Maybe I should take a leaf out of Paul’s book, and pray that we know exactly who we have in our corner.
Prayer: My heavenly father. I confess that I rarely give you the credit and glory you deserve. I am sorry for the times when I try to stuff your immeasurable power into my own little box. Please help me to know the hope I have in Christ – and trust you as the God who is able to be and do immeasurably more than I can imagine. Amen
A song to listen to: Look What God Has Done – Ghost Ship
Vicki Meehan
Living Church Creek Road Campus
