Early in our marriage, we made a trip to Washington D.C. with another couple to see all the sights. One stop has remained in my memory to this day because it so impressed me as a relatively new Christian. We made a trip to the National Cathedral (the second largest cathedral in the U.S. and the sixth largest in the world). We took our time walking through this magnificent gothic style cathedral, and marveled at its beauty. As we walked around the backside of the building, we looked up and inscribed on the exterior high up were the words "omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent". How fitting a tribute to our Lord. In fact, it made me think of Mary's prayer.
In Luke 1:46-55, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ our Lord, praised God for the gift of the Messiah. Her prayer centered on magnifying the Lord whom she called her Savior. She called Him holy, merciful to those who fear Him, strong and able to bring down the mighty/proud, feeding the hungry and a help to Israel. Such a song of praise glorified God and His attributes.
As Mary pointed out in her song of praise, God is, indeed, omnipotent. He has all power and ability. There is nothing that is able to over come His rule and reign. Mary put it this way: "He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones...(vs.51b-52a)." We know from the Apostle Paul's writings that God puts leaders into their positions and removes them just the same (Romans 13:1). We may think it is the will of the people, but behind all that happens, our omnipotent God reigns sovereign over all the affairs of men. While His hand is unseen, we can rest in the knowledge that we serve an all powerful king who made us, sustains us and loves us.
God is also omniscient. He knows all things past, present and future. For Him, there is no time for He is a Spirit and is not bound, as we are, to an hour by hour day. I am still astonished when I think that God knew me before the foundation of the world and had a detailed plan for my life. In the New Living Bible, it says: "Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes." This was true of Mary. He knew the entire plan of salvation before the world was formed and His timing was perfect when He sent Jesus into the world. This should make us all pause to consider how awesome is the God that we serve.
Lastly, God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at the same time. Having been a mother of four, there were times when I sincerely wished I could have been everywhere at once. However, because we are limited by our human body, we know it is impossible for us to be in two places at the same time. Yet this is not true of our heavenly Father. Knowing that God is omnipresent should give us peace for He is ever able to be with us wherever we go. Only when God came as the Son did He experience the limitations that a physical body has in this world. For us, it is a mystery that Jesus was fully divine and fully human at the same time. Yet God sent Him to suffer and die as an atonement for our sins so that we might become the righteousness of Christ by trusting in Him.
All three of these big "O" words are hard for us to comprehend because God is not like man. We are made in His image, but we are not like Him as a pure spirit being. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). With that said, consider what a miracle Christmas really is for us. To think that the God and Creator of the universe stepped into our world as a tiny baby born in Bethlehem should make us rejoice as Mary did in her beautiful song of prayer. Perhaps that is why when I saw those words inscribed so high upon the National Cathedral, it made me pause to reflect on the wonder of our heavenly God and Father. Reflect on the fact that God stepped into time to redeem us and provide for us a way to have relationship with Him....the Creator of the universe! Selah
Have a very Merry Christmas from our home to yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment