Power is one of the most misunderstood and misused forces in our world. We see it daily—in politics, wealth, influence, military strength, and social dominance. Power is often defined as the ability to control outcomes, silence opposition, or secure advantage. Yet when we turn to Scripture, we discover a radically different vision of power—one that confronts our assumptions and invites us into a transformed way of living.
Psalm 2, Isaiah 49:13–23, and Matthew 18:1–14 each speak about power, but they do so from distinct angles. Together, they reveal that God’s power is not exercised through fear or coercion, but through faithfulness, compassion, and care for the least.
Psalm 2: Power That Exposes False Authority
Psalm 2 opens with a striking image: nations raging, rulers conspiring, and powers of the world attempting to throw off God’s authority. It is a portrait that feels uncannily familiar. Human power, when detached from humility, tends to resist accountability. It seeks autonomy without responsibility and control without justice.
Yet the psalm does not respond with panic. God is not threatened by the noise of empire. Instead, God’s sovereignty exposes the fragility of power built on pride and fear. The psalm reminds us that authority rooted in domination is ultimately unstable. True power belongs not to those who shout the loudest or hoard the most, but to the One who governs with righteousness and calls leaders to serve with wisdom and reverence.
In our day, Psalm 2 challenges both leaders and citizens. It asks us where we place our trust and whom we believe ultimately holds the future. It warns against confusing force with legitimacy and reminds us that power without justice is already unraveling.
Isaiah 49: Power That Remembers the Forgotten
Isaiah 49 shifts the conversation. Here, power is not expressed through conquest but through consolation. God speaks to a people who feel abandoned and asks a tender question: “Can a woman forget her nursing child?” Even if that were possible, God declares, “I will not forget you.”
This is power as faithfulness. God’s strength is revealed in memory, in presence, in the refusal to abandon the vulnerable. The passage envisions a world turned upside down—where kings become caregivers and queens serve as nurturers. Power bows low. Authority is redefined as responsibility for the weak.
In our world, where refugees are dismissed, the elderly are neglected, and the marginalized are treated as expendable, this vision is deeply countercultural. Isaiah insists that God’s power is measured not by dominance but by devotion to those society overlooks. Any system that forgets the suffering has misunderstood power at its core.
Matthew 18: Power in Smallness and Care
Jesus brings the conversation to its sharpest point in Matthew 18. When the disciples ask who is greatest, Jesus does not offer a strategy for success. He places a child among them and says that greatness looks like humility, dependence, and trust.
More than that, Jesus issues a stark warning: harming or neglecting “the little ones” is a grave offense. Power that exploits or ignores the vulnerable stands under judgment. Then comes the parable of the lost sheep—a shepherd leaving ninety-nine to seek the one who is lost. This is not efficient power. It is not practical power. It is personal, attentive, and relentless love.
In our day, this teaching confronts cultures that value productivity over people and numbers over names. Jesus reveals a power that stops for the one, listens to the small voice, and refuses to write anyone off as insignificant.
Power for Our Time
Together, these Scriptures call us to examine how we understand and exercise power. They ask difficult questions:
- Do we equate power with control or with care?
- Do we admire strength that dominates, or strength that protects?
- Do our institutions reflect God’s concern for the least, or human hunger for status?
God’s power does not crush rebellion with brute force, forget suffering in the name of progress, or measure worth by influence. God’s power restores, remembers, and rescues.
For us today, following Christ means resisting the temptation to grasp power as the world defines it. Instead, we are invited to practice power through humility, advocacy, compassion, and faithful love—especially toward those with the least voice.
In a world obsessed with being first, God calls us to notice the child, seek the lost sheep, and remember the forgotten. This is the power that endures. This is the power that heals. And this is the power to which we are called.
The Curious Pilgrims 