Omnipotent

By Richard Wines 

What does it mean to be omnipotent?  I call God omnipotent, but do I know what omnipotence means?  The dictionary defines omnipotence as “almighty or infinite in power.”  So how can the finite understand the infinite?  I can’t, but that doesn’t keep me from trying.

Omnipotence means control over the tiniest piece of creation.  In a single drop of water are six sextillion atoms.  That is a 6 with 21 zeros after it.  God controls and is sovereign over every atom in every drop of water in every ocean.  There is no electron, quark, speck of dust, virus, ameba, or spore of pollen that exists without his knowledge, control, and mandate. 

Omnipotence means control over the largest piece of creation.  The earth is one planet orbiting one star.  The sun is part of the Milky Way galaxy which has roughly 200 billion stars.  It is estimated that there are at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe.  This gives us 20,000 billion stars multiplied by a billion, or more stars than there are grains of sand on the earth.  Planets rotate around stars, stars rotate around their galaxy center, Galaxies group together into clusters that rotate around other clusters, all expanding and held together by unexplainable material called dark matter, all put into motion and ruled by the omnipotent hand of God.  “He counts the number of the stars.  He gives names to all of them” (Psalm 147:4 NAS).

Omnipotence is billions of chromosomes in a DNA strand that form the language of life, the joining of diverse musical tones to create the magic of harmony, and the pounding of a young girl’s excited heart.

Omnipotence is knowing my every thought, my every need, and my every desire.  It is giving me the ability to choose, when every choice is already determined.  Through omnipotence comes love—and redemption.  Omnipotence makes eternity more than a dream. 

God has no limits, no bounds, no weaknesses, and no blindsides.  He makes no errors, no mistakes, and no misjudgments.  He made all, knows all, sees all, and controls all.  God cannot be anything less.  When we question Him, his answer is, “where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me if you have understanding.  Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites?  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over the earth?”  (Job 38:4, 32, 33 NAS)

So what can I do when faced with the omnipotent?  I can join my finite will and my finite mind with the shouts of all creation, from the Andromeda galaxy to the protozoa, from the Pillars of Creation to the whisper of a summer breeze.  “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever” (Romans 11:36 NAS).  I can worship.

1 http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=omnipotent&db=luna
2 Padilla, Michael J.; Miaoulis, Ioannis; Cyr, Martha (2002). Prentice Hall Science Explorer: Chemical Building Blocks. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc.. ISBN 0-13-054091-9. OCLC 47925884
3 Sanders, Robert (2006-01-09). "Milky Way galaxy is warped and vibrating like a drum". UCBerkeley News. http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/01/09_warp.shtml. Retrieved on 2006-05-24.
4 Mackie, Glen (2002-02-01). "To see the Universe in a Grain of Taranaki Sand". Swinburne University. http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~gmackie/billions.html. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
5 Mackie, Glen (2002-02-01). "To see the Universe in a Grain of Taranaki Sand". Swinburne University. http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~gmackie/billions.html. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.