The Wonderful God of Oz

 

“We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Those words comes from the classic 1939 movie (which was based on the 1900 children’s story by L. Frank Baum). In the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her dog Toto follow a yellow brick road to the Emerald City in hopes that the wizard will be able to send her back to Kansas, where she lived before she was displaced by a tornado. When Toto pulls back the curtain the cast learns that the wizard was really just a fraud, a man working machinery but devoid of power. At the end of the movie Dorothy famously declares there is no place like home. 

 

The Wizard of Oz is a fun story with lovable characters, including the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow. They are all disappointed to realize that the wizard they longed to see was actually powerless. He couldn’t give the lion courage, the tin man a heart, and the scarecrow a brain; he couldn’t even take Dorothy home. It would be crushing to learn that the one they sought, the one they believed would help them, was just a fake. 

 

I have good news. When it comes to our God, we never need to worry about the man behind the curtain. We will never discover that God is actually powerless, or that He is a fraud. The Bible tells us that God is powerful. We often describe Him as being omnipotent, or possessing all power. 

 

Psalm 62:11 says, “Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.” Just a chapter later we read, “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory (63:2).” God even likes to introduce Himself as El Shaddai—God Almighty (Genesis 35:11 for example).  

 

The power that is used to describe God in the Psalms and elsewhere is actually the Hebrew word oz. Because our God is El Shaddai, we do not serve the Wizard of Oz, but the Wonderful God of Oz. The wizard told Dorothy that he is “a good man but a terrible wizard.” Our God is not terrible, or even good; our God is great. He is not a trickster (or a “humbug” as the wizard calls himself). He possesses all power and is able to fulfill every promise He has ever made. 

Among those promises are forgiveness of sin to whoever calls on the Lord, and a promised home with the Him forever. Because of the Wonderful God of Oz, all who trust in Him will one day be able to say, “There’s no place like home.”