GOD, POWER OF
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
—Rev. 14:7
1994 “God Only Is Great”
At the funeral of Louis XIV the great cathedral was packed with mourners paying final tribute to the king whom they all considered great. The room was dark, save for one lone candle which illumined the great solid casket that held the mortal remains of the monarch.
At the appointed time, Massilion, court preacher, stood to address the assembled clergy of France. As he rose, he reached from the pulpit and snuffed out the one candle which had been put there to symbolize the greatness of the king. Then from the darkness came just four words, “God only is great!”
—Homer J. R. Elford
1995 One Beside Us
“Without Me ye can do nothing.”
Lord, I know, I know!
“Without Me ye can do nothing”—
Only a round “O.”
Stand by my side, O Master,
Then One and O are ten;
Stand by me friend and me, Lord—
We are a hundred then.
A little group of two or three
Are gathered in Thy name—
’Tis a hundred or a thousand if
Thou’rt standing there with them.
Stand by the side of each of us—
Thy servants in the fight—
With each new “nought” the numbers grow;
The imps of hell take fright.
Ten thousand millions-myriads—
An adjustment to our thoughts—
’Tis the One who stands beside us
Makes the value of our “noughts.”
1996 One Thing God Can’t Do
A Sunday school teacher was examining her pupils after a series of lessons on God’s omnipotence. She asked, “Is there anything God can’t do?”
There was silence. Finally, one lad held up his hand. The teacher, disappointed that the lesson’s point had been missed, asked resignedly, “Well, just what is it that God can’t do?”
“Well,” replied the boy, “He can’t please everybody.”
—Together
1997 Miraculous Interventions In History
A tide was kept back strangely for twelve hours once, and so a host of Christians in Holland were saved from slaughter by the Duke of Alva. A tremendous wind once scattered the Armada of Spain over the wastes of the North Sea, and so Protestant England was spared to the world. John Knox moved his usual seat away from above before the window one night, pressed by a feeling he could neither understand nor resist; an hour later there came a musket-ball crashing through the glass and burying itself harmlessly in the opposite wall. Thus has God interposed and protected his children.
—C. S. Robinson
1998 They Were On Side Of God
Napoleon said, “God is on the side of the heaviest artillery.” At Waterloo, he was proved wrong, for the 160 guns of the English overcame the 250 guns of the French. God and one make a majority.
How helpless seemed William of Orange and the Hollanders against Spain and the religious forces of Rome, but God was with William of Orange. How helpless seemed the preacher Parkhurst against the combined wickedness of the great city, but God and right were on his side. During the anti-slavery struggle, a preacher said, “Gentlemen, it looks dark, but God is on our side, and how much do you count him for?”
“One shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.”
1999 Who Can Be Against Us?
Voltaire in History of Charles XII related that whenever the Swedes could marshal a force which had a proportion to their enemies of 20 to 100, they never despaired of victory.
When Napoleon started to fight England and Austria, the soldiers called him “Wee one Hundred Thousand Men.” They would ask one another during battles, “Is Wee One Hundred Thousand Men in the army today?” He was worth that number of men.
If God be for us, who can be against us?