God’s Power Is Like Gravity
This morning’s verse is from the “Hall of Faith” chapter in the Bible. There are many verses here, but fundamentally it is a great chapter to help us understand what faith in Christ is all about. The very first verse says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” – (Heb.11:1). How much confidence do we have in what we are hoping for? How much confidence do we have in something that is unseen, that has not yet materialized?
Scripture:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1
Observation/Application:
When we have a high confidence in something, in other words when we know for sure that something is going to happen, how do we act? Let’s look at something very common like gravity. How confident are we that gravity exists? Just standing here, we cannot see gravity by itself. But we know that it exists, don’t we? How do we know that it exists?
First of all we have to do something. In order for us to see gravity we have to do something. And just like gravity, God is always there, but if we want God to be revealed we have to take action. By taking action, the unseen is revealed.
As an example, let’s go about dropping this bowling ball onto our foot. When we drop this ball, we can see gravity in action. We can see something unseen. We can see this force that we would not have been able to see if we had not picked up the bowling ball and dropped it. That is how it is with God. We can see the unseen at work when we do something that would cause the unseen to be revealed, to be seen.
Image courtesy of: Yelp.com
So now that we know that we need to do something, what is that something that we should do in order for God to be revealed? For everyone it is something different, but it all starts with seeking God and drawing closer to Him. And by doing this, we can begin to grow our faith.
As we continue reading in Hebrews, we learn in verse 6 that “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” – (Heb.11:6). The Bible says to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” – (Mat.6:33). How do we gain faith? To build up confidence in the unseen we have to first SEEK GOD EARNESTLY. Then we will see the unseen.
If we look a little deeper at the analogy of dropping this bowling ball, let’s consider how that might play out. As I drop the bowling ball and it starts to descend down toward my foot, I assure you that I am going to be moving my foot out of the way. There was no way that I was going to let that ball hit my foot or it was going to be smashed.
That is just like God’s awesome unseen power. Like the bowling ball, when God’s power is put into motion, it smashes everything in its way and anything that opposes it. Nothing is greater.
There is so much more I would like to go into here with the scientific formula for gravity as it relates to distance, time, resistance, and mass, but I’ll spare you my inner geek. But in short, when there is more resistance there is less impact, and when there is less resistance there is more impact.
With the falling bowling ball, we can add resistance by attaching a parachute. This of course will soften the impact of the ball hitting the ground or our foot. The unseen power of gravity is reduced.
The same holds true with God’s power. When we resist God, we inhibit the impact of His unseen power in our lives. But when we don’t resist God and we surrender fully to him, God’s unseen power can be at full strength in our lives. When we stop resisting God, we can start to experience his love and mercy and power and strength at full measure. The bowling ball hits the ground with full impact.
Make no mistake, God’s power is far greater than the impact of fa falling bowling ball. We might more accurately compare it to a huge meteor larger than Earth smashing into our planet. As God created the heaven and the earth and everything in it, God also has the power to eliminate it. Like our parents used to say, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out.”
That is how the Holy Spirit is inside of us. It is all powerful and mighty. It can move mountains, demolish stronghold, there is nothing that God cannot do in our lives. We just need to get out of the way, provide less resistance, and let God work. You know what the funniest thing about gravity is?
One last thing with this gravity analogy that is mind-blowing. When scientists classify the 4 known forces of nature, gravity is the weakest of the four, yet the most dominant force. Even though it’s the weakest force, gravity holds together entire solar systems and galaxies!
Isn’t that how it is with God? When I am weak, He is strong. The Bible says that God’s “grace is sufficient… for my power is made perfect in weakness… For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – (2 Cor.12:9-11). How awesome is God!?
Whenever we see something fall, let us remember that we can see the unseen. God will reveal it, when we earnestly seek Him! And let us remember that He is the greatest and most powerful of all. Finally, let us cherish the Spirit of God, that lives in us. Thank you Jesus.
#God-Is-So-Awesome
Prayer:
Good morning God. Thank you for a great night of rest and recovery. I come to you renewed and refreshed this morning. We earnestly seek you today and look forward to seeing your unseen power at work be revealed in our lives. Let us fully surrender to you so there is no resistance to your awesome power and glory. Let us not constrain your awesome power God. Help us to get out of our own way so that the fullness of your power and Holy Spirit be at work in our lives. We thank you so much for all that you have blessed us with. Provide comfort to those who mourn, who are in some kind of pain either mental or physical, or who are far from you or lost. Bring them close to you. Draw us even closer to you, that we can’t help but be more like you each and every day. We give you all the honor and glory and praise, in Jesus mighty name. Amen.
Today’s full reading: Isaiah 19-21; Hebrews 11
Scripture References From Today’s Reflection:
- “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” – Hebrews 11:6
- “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33
- “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” – 1 Corinthians 3:16
- “He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,'” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you’.” – Matthew 17:20
- “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” – 2 Corinthians 10:4
- “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” – Ephesians 6:12