Last summer during a wild electrical storm, a lightning bolt struck a tall tree in our subdivision. Its electric current entered the tree with such force it split the whole thing in two, slicing from top to bottom and sending massive chunks of wood flying.

Much of the bark exploded off the trunk, and we clearly saw where the lightning had entered and exited, leaving a charred hole three feet tall.

After studying the ravaged tree, we went home and researched on the internet. Now I know where the phrase “lightning speed” came from. One bolt of lightning races a distance of several miles from a storm cloud to the ground in milliseconds, packing a punch the equivalent of an atomic bomb: over 100 million volts of electricity and a trillion watts of power.

Moist tree sap becomes vaporized by temperatures above 60,000 degrees, which is 5 times hotter than the sun’s surface. The resulting steam is what blasts the bark right off the trunk.

What an incredible display of power! And all of it originates with Someone we know personally: our Creator-God. He uses his power in lots of different ways, and amazingly, uses it for good in our lives when we ask him.

To see the result of one lightning strike is to be visually reminded that our God is indeed powerful beyond imagination. No one can come up against that kind of power and win. No one can out-do God. He can use his unmatched power to do anything he wants, and incredibly, what he wants to do is help us.

But that raises some important questions: “If he’s so powerful, why doesn’t he answer all my prayer requests? Why didn’t he prevent that accident from happening? Why didn’t he heal my loved one from cancer? Why didn’t he stop me from making that terrible mistake?”

God is, indeed, omnipotent. No force in heaven or on earth is more powerful than he. But just because he possesses such power doesn’t mean he always has to use it.

I think of a young daddy who works out regularly at the gym and has enough muscle-power to lift a barbell with hundreds of pounds on each end. When he goes home to cradle his newborn, however, he keeps his power in check.

God is careful with his power, too, and doesn’t always give us the reasons why he does or doesn’t use it. He simply wants us to trust that his judgment is superior to ours. This isn’t easy, but it stretches our faith and coaxes us to depend on him more as we endure.

I like knowing my Father is omnipotent. And if I ever doubt it, I can walk down the road and look at a certain tree.

 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.” (1 Chronicles 29:11)