Temperatures allegedly dipped to -17 Fahrenheit overnight.  Once, yesterday morning and then again yesterday evening, our neighborhood lost electricity.  The morning outage went half an hour and the three outages last night together amounted to about ten minutes of lost power.  As this storm has gone east, many people are having to brave the cold without electricity for what may wind up being days.

We all have experienced power outages.  Those who live in other countries often find having electricity the greater novelty than losing it.  Some experience rolling or scheduled outages or brown outs (drop in voltage).  Many times, we may experience what are called transient faults, those very brief losses in power caused by a fault in the power line.  When the power goes out, there is darkness, there may be discomfort, there is often that eerie stillness and quiet, and there is uncertainty.  When the power goes out in extreme conditions, like yesterday, there is concern.  In each circumstance, there is a feeling of powerlessness.  We cannot do anything about it, and we are at the mercy of those hardworking people who can.

Spiritually, we have all experienced that feeling of powerlessness.  We may feel insignificant, forgotten, and in the dark.  So often, we feel like there is nothing we can do.  We may experience discomfort and even fear.  These are the times we have disconnected ourselves from our power source.  Life, when good or bad, may lull or throw us into an inconsistent or even non-existent prayer and study life.  We focus inwardly and forget that God, who has all-power, is still in control.  Perhaps, it is then, most of all, that we need to remember His power and the way He empowers us.  Paul wrote, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Eph. 3:20).  To Philippi, he said, “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).  As long as there is a God in heaven, there will never be a power outage in our spiritual lives–unless we disconnect ourselves from the power source!

–Neal Pollard