Yes, God is Able

Recently, I was able to do something that I had not done in the 40 years I have been on the earth.  I was able to hear a hymn writer in person speak and sing one of the songs he had written.  Charles Towler recently blessed the “His Hands Extended” devotion with the spoken, written and sung word.  Mr. Towler was an instrumental leader at the Tennessee Music and Printing Company, and he blessed the devotion with a song entitled “His blood has made us one.”  Although I was unfamiliar with that particular song, the theme of the song and Mr. Towler’s voice truly blessed this gathering immensely.  It was a song about unity and what we have through the blood of Jesus.

There was a hymn, however, that Mr. Towler had written but did not sing that day.  This particular hymn was a “regular” during my young life at Southern Hills Church of God.  That hymn is found on page 262 in the “Hymns of the Spirit” hymnal, and I wanted to share its powerful, faith-filled words with you.  I am glad Mr. Towler shared these particular words to generations of believers across the world.

If God could speak and bring the world into existence,
If He could make the light to shine where all was dim,
If He designed and put the universe in motion,
Then surely there is not a thing too hard for Him.

Chorus
Yes, God is able to do whatsoever we ask
in the name of His son that His will might be done
And He is able to give whatsoever we need,
If we’ll only believe when we pray.

If God could feed His people with the bread from heaven,
If He could cause their clothes to never wear away,
If God could give them water from a rocky mountain,
Then surely He’ll supply our needs if we will pray.

If God could send down fire to burn upon the altar,
If He could stop the rain from falling from the sky,
If God could cause a man to prophesy the future,
Then surely He’s the One on whom we should rely.

Couple of comments on the lyrics:

• Basis in Scripture – I like how Mr. Towler starts each verse with three Biblical “if” statements.  He takes us back to Creation, back to the Exodus from Egypt, and back to Elijah the prophet.  He reminds us that we need to start with the truths and the facts found in the Word.  If we believe the Bible is God’s word, and if we believe that the events recorded in the Bible are true, and if we believe that the miracles that are detailed there are true, then we can trust and have faith that the same God that performed those miracles is able to do the same today.  If God can provide food from Heaven, surely He can find a way to get me the nourishment I need.  If He is able to create something out of nothing, then He can in our lives produce something beautiful out of what seems to be chaos.  If we need a miracle, we need to trust that He is still a miracle working God.

• Truths of Scripture – The theme of the chorus of this song is that God is able.  Here’s some Bible verses that reinforce this important truth:

Daniel 3:16-17 – “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.”

2 Corinthians 9:8 – “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

Hebrews 7:25 – “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.“

I want to take you back to 8th grade Algebra (I can hear Mr. Jackson at Jefferson Middle School now).  One of the basic concepts you learn when you get into Algebra is conditional statements also known as “if, then” statements.  If x is 3 and if y is 4, then x+y is 7.  Do you remember those equations?  Most of the time when you have several “if” statements in an equation, then the equation can be very difficult to solve, or the likelihood of finding a response that meets all the conditional “if” statements is rare.

But that is not the case with this hymn or with God.  Mr. Towler has 9 “if” statements in this hymn.  But the increasing “if” statements don’t decrease the likelihood of the truth of the “then” statements.  It actually does the opposite.  The more “if’s” that are true, the more our faith should increase that the “then” will take place.  If you need financial provision today, I encourage you to go to the Word and remind yourself that if God provided a cruse of oil that never ran dry, and if God provided a coin from a fish’s mouth, and if God provided food for 5,000 people from 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread, surely He can provide for your financial needs.  If you need wisdom today, remind yourself that God answered Solomon’s prayer for wisdom and that God gave discernment to the Apostles in the early church.  If God has done it before, He is able to do it again.  Yes, God is able!!!