His divine power has given you everything you need!
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV)
Wow! The Apostle Peter says in this passage that God “has given us everything”. That is a straight forward promise! It’s a done deal! But, I believe we don’t always remember that wonderful fact. At least in the lyrics of some of our church worship songs anyway!
Worship music words that are “anti-promise” bother me!
I “usually” love to sing the worship songs at church. There are so many great ones. Accept, occasionally, when the words are unbiblical or inappropriate for New Testament believers.
For instance
I travel a lot, and visit many churches, so I get to hear lots of worship songs. A song that seems to be popular right now has words that say, “God come down!” (And, it’s repeated over and over many times). It has a great tune and is easy to sing.
My problem with it? God has already come down!
He did it in the form of Jesus, who is “God with us”. (Matt. 1:23) And, He has clearly promised, “I will never leave or forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). And, when we receive Him, he comes to live inside of us (John 1:12, Gal. 2:20, Rom. 8:11).
We do not have to ask God to do what He has already clearly said He has done in His Word! And, when we ask Him to give us that which He has already clearly supplied, it demonstrates a lack of faith! It doesn’t build faith, it does just the opposite!
When songs with these kinds of words are sung at churches I attend, I just think about what the Word of God actually says instead of singing along (I do this discreetly of course). I understand, too, that God understands the intentions of the heart, and that is good news.
So, why are we asking Him (in some of our worship songs) to do what He has already done? I’ve pondered this question many times.
One possible answer
Perhaps we are just forgetful and need reminders about what the Bible says about these things! Our promise for today says, “His Divine power has given us all that we need,” which is certainly true! But, further down in the same passage, Peter says the following.
“So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them … .” And, “I think it is right to refresh your memory…” (2 Peter 1:12-13)
He says the same thing twice! Perhaps it’s because we often forget basic truths we shouldn’t forget.
It’s through knowledge
The last part of this promise says that God has supplied our needs “through our knowledge of him.” And, that is a reminder that we must study the Bible so that we are knowledgeable about what He has already done!