I’ve been meditating on this verse from Ephesians 3, one of the letters in the New Testament.
These words about God are extravagant, full of hope and promise. Exceedingly, abundantly, these are words of a loving Father who is rich in mercy and love. It’s good just to stop and ponder it a while.
The whole verse reads like this: “now unto Him, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”.
I have come to believe that we don’t ask or access that power enough … we try so hard to do it on our own. God wants us to ask… just as a loving dad would want to care for his children.
It would be wrong of me to say this comes easy. In fact I’ve wrestled with how to reconcile this loving all-powerful God with the suffering I see, and experience.
I know the reality of chronic pain, and anxiety and depression can be close cousins. My own struggles diminish when I see the pain of others.
So how does one have victory in the light of suffering and pain?
It is those who suffer that teach me the most. Like the precious elderly lady, who ended up in the hospital after a bad fall and was the main caregiver for an ailing husband. She saw me and beamed. “I knew you’d come” she said, and went on to tell me what she was grateful for.
She saw goodness in people caring for her, miracles in family who showed up to help her husband. She was grateful. She saw the goodness of God in spite of her circumstances. Her focus was on provision, not problems.
One of the goals I have this year is to play with colour. So I’ve brought my water colours out and am experimenting. Creativity often helps me with pain, and I believe beauty can be an antidote for pain. There is beauty everywhere!
If I focus on pain, it seems to increase, when I focus on Gods words or the beauty of creation, there is a shift in my thinking. What we focus on can make all the difference.
So these words speak to me, Exceedingly, Abundantly able. A power source from the One who made us.
I am encouraged to dwell on and live into the extravagance of Gods provision. Not in some name it and claim it sort of way, but living more boldly as a child of God. May it be so.
