God Is Able!
Through the ages, the majority of Christians correctly understand that God is sovereign. Many of them also believe that sovereignty is His most central attribute. The late Malcolm Muggeridge commented on this essential understanding when he confessed: “If it were possible to live without God, it would not be worth living at all.”
God is portrayed in Scripture as the creator and sustainer of the universe and, as such, there is nothing too great or too small for Him to accomplish. As a Christian chorus rightly proclaims, “God can do anything, anything, anything; God can do anything but fail!”
In practice, however, many of God’s children often contradict that significant affirmation of faith; they deal with the Almighty either as if He were incapable of certain things, or if some human concerns are too insignificant to deserve His attention.
Nevertheless, the testimony of Holy Scripture, confirmed by the experience of countless of His children, indicates that God is not only able, but also willing to accomplish anything on behalf of His own, in accordance with His perfect will.
The author of the epistle to the Hebrews acknowledges the ability of Christ, the Son of God, to redeem, when he declares: “Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them” (7:23).
The apostle Paul also, in II Corinthians 9:8, further declares that God’s ability to provide grace continues through this life, in that “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work.”
Even St. Jude in his brief letter, forcefully carries on the same argument when he affirms that God is able to keep His people from falling (v. 24) so as to present them faultless before the presence of His glory.
Because of His consistent regard for all His children, God is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). He transcends our meager expectations and the feeble faith with which we appear before Him, by surpassing our imagination in fulfilling our requests with far more than anticipated. God is truly extravagant in all He does for His own!
Indeed, God is able to provide the very best for the good of His redeemed, as they in faith and obedience approach Him, insofar as they also recognize that in some situations God may provide differently, and even better, than His children would ask of Him. And whatever He does, His ability will be executed in His own pace, not ours, according to His perfect plan, not our personal wishes or whims. We only need to rely on His loving, divine ability, in complete trust, as we live each new day in total dependence on Him!
