“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?’” Romans 11:33
December 27, 2022
Exactly how smart is God? The problem is that that question is conditioned by human standards. And being smart is not the same as wisdom. Paul breaks forth into a doxology as he thinks of the way God has revealed His mercy throughout human history. This is why we meet an “Oh” at the beginning of this doxology. God is to be praised for His infinite wisdom. Wisdom is as theologian Wayne Grudem says, “God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals.” God does know everything, but beyond that, He possesses the infinite skill of being able to bring about perfect decisions. The “simple” gospel message can be understood by the very young and yet out-class all the philosophies of mankind’s greatest minds, “for the foolishness of God is wiser than men,” (1 Cor. 1:25). Have eight brilliant thinkers sit around a table and listen to their attempts to understand how a crucified Messiah and faith alone in His death and resurrection can make it possible to be delivered from human bondage to sin, break down racial and social barriers, and turn selfish, angry, lying, dishonest men and women into lovers of God and other people. “Unsearchable and how inscrutable” are God’s ways. The divine decisions are self-moved, are wholly internal, and not traceable by finite intellect. God’s use of pain, suffering, death, sickness, cancer, wars, and disappointments is over the heads of all the Ph.Ds of human history. God’s wisdom cannot be improved upon. “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable” (Isa. 40:28).
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“Eternal God, Your’s is surpassing greatness, unspeakable goodness, super-abundant grace; I can as soon count the sands of ocean’s ‘lip’ as number your favors toward me. I know but a part, but that exceeds all praise.”
(Adapted from The Valley of Vision)