Since God made everything, and knows everything, does that mean he can do anything?
Q: Can God do all things?
A: Yes. God can do all His holy will.
(Psalm 147:5; Jeremiah 32:17; Daniel 4:34-35; Ephesians 1:11)
Today we turn from God’s knowledge to his power. Is there anything God cannot do? Is there anything stopping God from doing what he wants and how he wants to do it? To that we get a resounding “NO!” One verse that would lead us to this conclusion isn’t actually listed with the catechism, but is important for this discussion all the same, is Psalm 115:3. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” He isn’t a weak idol here on earth, he is in the heavens. Further, he does all that he pleases. That is a frightening proposition for many. We think of God as being constrained by man so often. We think “God would have done thus-and-so, if only {insert circumstance here}.” Any god that is not able to do, and does not do exactly as he wants, is not the God of the Bible, because he does all that he pleases.
How powerful must he be!? According to Psalm 147:5, the Lord is abundant in power. That is, he is very powerful. That does not do justice to God’s power though. He is the one whose “way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” He is the one before whom mountains quake, hills melt, and the earth along with everyone on it quake (Nahum 1:1-5). This is the one who made the earth, not by mere ingenuity, but by his might. Absolutely nothing is too hard for him (Jeremiah 32:17).
It was only upon recognizing the might of God who “rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Jeremiah 4:32) was Nebuchadnezzar returned to his senses after living like a wild beast. When he did he praised God as the one with everlasting dominion (or power). In 4:35 he says, “all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’”
Compared to the power and might of God, no one and no creature on earth is even comparable. Not only on earth, but in heaven, God does according to his own will. That means even with the powerful spiritual beings, God does what he wants. None can stop him. No one can grab God’s wrist to keep him from doing what he has set out to do. Not only does God do whatever he wants, he is accountable only to himself in the doing. No one can come up to God after he acts and either question or accuse him.
Even in our wildest imaginings, this is not a power we can grasp. Sometimes you hear someone start up a conversation with something like, “If you could have any superpower, which would it be?” We fantasize about flying or x-ray vision, or being invisible, or being incredibly strong. We want to do things we cannot do. God has never, and will never, come against a desire that he does not have the power to accomplish. We often are frustrated in our endeavors. We try, and we fail. God never does. God never fantasizes about something he would like to be able to do but can’t. As we imagine superpowers, it ought to drive us to worship our God who does “all his holy will.” He has always, and will always, unfailingly do whatever he sets out to do.
What a comfort to those in Christ! Absolutely everything is going according to God’s plan. God does not react. He predestines, not because of what he sees, and not even because something he “foresees”, but according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11). In other words, what God says will happen, because God plans it, and he plans it just how he wants it. This goes for everything. He works absolutely everything according to the counsel of his will. You might say, “Well, what about…?” Yes, that too. This means that there is no meaningless event in all human history. God had a purpose in it. It was part of his plan and happened according to his will. Whatever seemingly senseless suffering you have gone through wasn’t senseless. Though I can’t tell you what the purpose was, I can point you to the one who does know. I can point you to the one that, in the final analysis will receive praise for what happened.
In our sin, we buck against this, because ultimately, we don’t like the idea of anyone being in control of us. But, if you are a Christian, your response ought to be praise. That ought to be the result of all that God does, even, and perhaps especially, those things that he does that we cannot understand.
Yours in Christ,