Omnipotence is a word you aren’t likely to use all that much in everyday conversation. It is a word that can only be applied to God. Question: What does the awe-inspiring word omnipotence mean? Answer: God is all powerful. He can do anything. He can heal all diseases. He can eradicate all crime and stop the abuse of every innocent victim. He can make tornadoes and hurricanes nonexistent. He can extinguish wars and squash injustice. He can bring harmony within families everywhere, feed every person who is hungry, alleviate all problems, stop all physical pain, cure diseases, and even eliminate death.
Yes, God can do these miraculous things! Does He always do them? No! The logical question we then ask is: “Why doesn’t He?” The answer lies in another word that only applies to God – sovereignty. God is a sovereign God. If that for which we pray is selfish in nature (see James 4:3), or is not in keeping with His will, or is not in keeping with His character, He will not do it.
If God wants to deliver the prophet Daniel from the salivating jaws of the hungry lions, or let James be decapitated, or give Peter an angelic escort out of prison, or permit thousands of Christians to be martyred in Roman coliseums, or allow His only Son, Jesus, to suffer the cruel death of crucifixion to satisfy His justice in providing redemption, He will. Whether God answers our prayers in precisely the way we ask or in a different way that He chooses, His answer, whatever it is, will both glorify Him and be in our best long-term interest.
Annie Kate Powell, a dear lady in Warsaw, North Carolina during the 1960’s, understood this. She contracted polio when she was very young. Both she and her family prayed that she might not become an invalid. Her brother, his wife, and their daughter were Christian missionaries in Nigeria. Surely God would answer their prayer and deliver her from becoming an invalid. It didn’t happen! She became an invalid!
Annie Kate might have succumbed to the icy grip of self-pity, or yielded to the whisper of suicide. She chose instead to bear witness to the love of God from her sickbed. She lived well into her eighties. No one ever had a brighter smile. Few people, if any, have ever given a more radiant witness of God’s love.
How easy it is to believe that God doesn’t love us, or that He has no power to heal, if our prayers are not answered in the exactly the way we ask. Prayer is one of God’s greatest gifts to believers. But how many of us would be much worse off than we are if God had given us everything for which we prayed? Since we know that God loves us, we can trust Him to answer our prayers in a way that brings glory to His name. If God existed only to meet our needs in the way and on the schedule we prescribe for Him, we would be His master and He would be our servant. Prayer has never worked that way. It still doesn’t. It never will.
One of the great Bible verses dealing with prayer is found in Matthew 7:7 – “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Yes, God answers every prayer we pray. Sometimes He says “Yes;” sometimes He says “No;” and sometimes He says, “Not now.” The daily goal of every Christian should be to submit to God’s sovereignty, for this keeps us in the position of being humble servants who are always available to serve Him in any way He chooses.
Any approach other than that of yielding to God’s sovereignty leaves us high and dry. Whether we drown in a pool of rationalized self-pity or become unrealistic in demanding that God serve us at our bidding, we can be assured that God knows our needs. He is working all things out in a way that will accomplish His purpose and meet our need.
The Paper Pulpit 
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