Power, Seen and Unseen

When I was a much younger man I spent four years in the US Navy, including nearly 3½ of them serving on board the USS Nimitz.  It is said that sailors belong on ships, and that ships belong at sea, and my service was no exception. I was part of three deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and when my enlistment was over I had sailed on the North and South Atlantic Oceans, the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, and perhaps coming within spitting distance of the South Pacific as we went around Singapore.

This all came to mind as I recently spent time along the seashore. In April we were in San Diego, spending three days of our vacation at the beach, and last week we were in New York, spending part of a morning walking along the beach on Long Island.

Whether seen from the beach, as I did recently, or experienced afloat, as in my Navy days, there is no denying that from up close the ocean has a lot of power within it.  Ashore, one wave follows another, virtually without end.  Afloat, the swells rise and fall. In each case there appears to be no end to the movement, merely variations in height and intensity.  How much power is within those waters that remains unseen?

When we look at the world around us and seek evidence of the power of God, we can see it everywhere.  Some of it seems lesser, as the power needed to bring forth a single leaf on a tree.  In other places it is much greater, such as the power that brings forth a single human life.  And looking at a clear sky at night the power of God on display overwhelms our imagination.  And while overwhelming our imagination, what we can see is just a small bit of the power that God truly has. 

There are times in the Christian life when it can seem like we are being overwhelmed.  It might be the circumstances of life at the moment, or perhaps the temptation of a particular sin that seems to stick like oil paint that has soaked into clothing. It seems as if there is absolutely no way of removing the stain.  There seems to be no way of overpowering that which is opposing us.

But as Christians we aren't meant to walk through life on our own.  We walk with the constant presence of our Savior and Lord, who is always with us by the power of his Spirit.  I'll close this with the opening question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, which says it so well:

Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, 1
but belong—

body and soul,
in life and in death— 2

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. 3

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, 4
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. 5
He also watches over me in such a way 6
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven; 7
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. 8

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life 9
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him. 10

1  1 Cor. 6:19-20
2  Rom. 14:7-9
3  1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14
4  1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2
5  John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11
6  John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5
7  Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18
8  Rom. 8:28
9  Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14
10 Rom. 8:1-17