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14 SPRING 2014 Paul expects (and prays) that we will be strengthened with His power (Col. 1:11). By God's power His good purposes and acts of faith are fulfilled (2 Thess. 1:11). God gives us His Spirit for power, love, and self-control (2 Tim. 1:7). Through faith God protects our salvation by His power (1 Pet. 1:5). Through God's power we have all we need for life and godliness through knowing Him (2 Pet. 1:3). God's power is available to us and directed toward us (Eph. 1:19). OUR EXPECTATIONS OF GOD'S POWER At the same time, strangely, God's power can be a perplexing or troubling subject. We may force our own expectations onto God's power in terms of when and how we should experience it. Perhaps we expect instantaneous deliverance from suffering, yet it continues. Perhaps we expect an almost magical supercharging of our lives that takes our breath away. Yet, we struggle forward and often fail. Lacking such dramatic or quick displays of God's power, some Christians slip into disillusionment. The surprising news is that on just such occasions we can come to know God's power in even broader dimensions. Along with Scripture's astonishing descriptions of God's power, we find Paul (who knew a thing or two about the matter!) presenting a much more finely textured picture. In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 he reflects autobiographically that God did not deliver him from an unnamed affliction but chose instead to give him grace sufficient to live with it: "Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me … For when I am weak, then I am strong." It appears that God's power is just as robust when we feel most fragile and helpless. But isn't that just like God (if we read the whole story carefully)? God's power has always been most strikingly displayed in situations of nothingness (creation—Gen. 1), hopelessness (Gideon and the Midianites—Judg. 6-7), and impossibility (the virgin birth—Luke 1:35)! This is perhaps the most puzzling, frustrating, fascinating, and remarkable feature of God's power. God often exercises it in the ways we least expect and most desperately need. We may beg (and even demand) that God brandish His power over circumstances that plague or threaten our lives. And at times He does. Yet, more often than not, God shows up with power in us and through us. How much power does it take to allow us to forgive an enemy? To change our character? To liberate us from the blinding tyranny of illusions? To give us boldness to share the gospel? To pursue holiness when our culture thinks we're crazy? To gracefully endure suffering that seems endless? To make the world a more just place for someone else? To see that God is good even in irreversible losses? To help a person experience reconciliation through Jesus? When we look closely, God's power in and through our lives eclipses the impressive external displays we clamor to see. GOD'S POWER DRAWS US TO HIM Indeed, God's incalculable power should prompt us to worship, just as it did for David in 1 Chronicles 29:11: "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours." As God's power reverberates through our lives, our hearts are drawn back to who God is. I know. My brother, who oversaw that powerful stadium construction project, died suddenly and tragically three years ago. In the grievous aftermath, God's gracious power has sustained us with hope and love that have the last word on that loss. In whatever form you need it today, ask God for His power and be open to His uncanny ways of working that power in your life. You may be surprised. However God works, know that what He does in your life is more powerful than lifting a stadium roof or a submarine. That is the power of the gospel to redeem lives. That's the message we can confidently share. Don Payne, PhD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AND CHRISTIAN FORMATION Dr. Payne joined the faculty in 1998 after eight years of pastoral ministry. He holds a PhD from the University of Manchester and is the author of The Theology of the Christian Life in J.I. Packer's Thought. When not ministering to young adults with his wife, Sharon, he enjoys the outdoors, big game hunting, and the Texas Longhorns. Credit: NASA, ESA and J. Hester (ASU)