God’s wisdom

 

Some Canadians are quite stirred up by the next American leader’s jesting that Canada should be the next state of his country. At the same time, the Canadian leader is rapidly losing the confidence of voters and even those who elected him. Today’s newspaper gave an account of discussions between these two leaders. When one joked about taking over the other, the unpopular leader in Canada quipped in return that they could work out a trade, maybe take two states in trade. At that, all talks about a take-over ended and I chuckled.

Then I read this in Charnock’s book in a section about the wisdom of God:

The wisdom of God hath given to men diverse offices, set them its diverse places; some have more honorable charges, some meaner. Not to give that respect their offices and places call for, is to quarrel with the wisdom of God, and overturn the rank and order wherein he has placed things. It is unfit we should affront God in the disposal of his creatures, and intimate to him… that he had done more wisely in placing another, and that he hath done foolishly in placing this or that man in such a charge. Sometimes men are unworthy the place they fill; they may be set there in judgment to themselves and others: but the wisdom of God in his management of things, is to be honored and regarded.

My time with God each morning is not about politics but to focus on Him and His will. All human leaders have flaws, but this response to what seems a joke to some and a threat to others, was met in such a way that it made me wonder if this was one reason the Canadian leader was given his place. His response showed wisdom in humor. It also pointed me to this verse in today’s readings:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:33)

Charnock says we trust the physician’s skill with our bodies, and the lawyer’s counsel with our estates; but are loath to rely upon God for the concerns of our lives. This applies to many concerns, political issues included. I can list a few things in my own life that I’ve questioned why God allowed such events, or prevented some desires. The Word of God and godly people give answers that show me that my Sovereign God is not joking about anything. His judgments and plans are incomprehensibly wise. The ways He carries them out are as wise as His resolve to do what He does. I am almost always unable to understand His methods, never mind His reasons, because His judgments and ways are both unsearchable.

But God understands my griefs. He knows exactly what I need. None of His remedies are beyond His skill. I might be bewildered and feel hopeless, or think at times that He isn’t caring that I am distressed, or that there is no way this can be a good thing, but He reminds me;

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

From His Word and my experiences with Him, I know that when I cannot prevent harm or danger, He knows how. If I can’t seem to escape evil or sorrow or trouble, He knows how to deliver me. He means to do what He promises to do, no matter how deep I might dig myself into a hole:

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1 Timothy 1:15)

This world is sinful, guilty and cursed, and His solution is Jesus Christ. I’m so amazed that He included me in this gracious gift.

He also makes clear that Jesus is the only way, just as He declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) The deeper He makes Himself known to me, the more I understand why He is the only Savior, not me or any other way.

PRAY: Oh Lord, You hear my questions and You understand my desire to know why when it comes to Your dealings with me, and with others. But You also know what I need to know, and what I do not need to know. You sometimes put words in my mouth that startle even me, yet You sometimes will not allow me to say anything. Trusting your wisdom is often a challenge, yet You grant the gift of faith that I may bow to Your will without any outcry. I am amazed at Your goodness and also at Your wisdom.

History is His Story . . .

 

We are on vacation staying in a place where the television lists only station call letters without telling us the current or future programs. At first it was annoying but we really don’t want to watch television anyway, and this gives me an illustration of what it is like to not worry about what is going on in the world, now or in the future. We don’t know anyway. Trusting the Lord for what happens is a lot better than flicking channels and trying to figure it out!

(By grace) which (God) lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight makes known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:8–10)

MacArthur sums it up with this statement: “God is intimately involved in the flow of human history and is directing its course toward a specific, predetermined climax.”

My hubby tends to be future-oriented and thinks about what’s next. Others are stuck in the past with varying symptoms. I tend to think about now which has a few drawbacks. My memory for the past is vague and history is usually boring. However, I make future plans one step at a time, not a life plan or even a daily plan because God is involved and directing what happens in my life just as He is directing human history towards the climax He has predetermined.

The above passage from Ephesians says Jesus is the goal for our future and in Him all things will be summed up. Whatever that entails gives theologians all sorts of ideas and theories, but it is more like having a TV service that does not identify future or even current programs. We really cannot guess all of it, only that . . .

For in (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19–20)

The future is settled. God holds it and I trust Him with it. And what about the present? If I turn on the TV here, I can see the programs and make a guess what they are or what they are about, but without the guide it is largely a hopeless task. Is that a new detective mystery or an old episode of a cop show? Is that a Hallmark romance or a soap opera? Do I even care? The daily news is different because the OT assures me that God is not sitting back watching our idiotic behaviors. He is involved:

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness . . . It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. (Isaiah 40:15–17; 22–24)

God is in control, not surprised or thwarted by anything. Eventually all will be made right in Christ. Knowing this is like shutting off the TV and going for a walk in the park in the sunshine. Knowing this is also a gift from the Lord. He gives His children the ability to see beyond the past and the present and get a tiny glimpse of His eternal purposes. For right now, that glimpse banishes all speculation and worries. I can enjoy today because “This is the day that the Lord has made, I can rejoice and be glad in it!”

Thank You Lord for this day, for this hour with You and for the very next breath that I take. My life — and the world — is in Your gracious and capable hands. Praise Your name!

CONSIDER: What verses would help someone who is stuck in the past or cannot get beyond past hurts? What truths would help someone who is so forward thinking that they neglect present responsibilities? Or they try to predict or plan for the future without really knowing what will happen in the next minute or hour?

 

Knowable yet Unsearchable

 

Nearly every morning I do a Sudoku puzzle and a word search. At times, a word seems to be missing. Even after a careful search, it eludes me. Then when I finally see it, it seems so obvious that it’s a wonder that my search took so long.

Searching out God is like that. At least sometimes. The wonder of who He is and what He does eludes me and then, a great wonder of all, He reveals something that I did not discern in my search and that truth is so obvious that it seems a wonder that I didn’t see it before.

But not always. There are things about God that are UNSEARCHABLE, even with the most painstaking study and earnest desire. God is beyond my finite mind and beyond my capacity to grasp even should He spell out everything there is to know about Himself.

Scripture authors knew this. Job, the psalmists, and the NT writers exalted the wonder of God being far greater than our ability to search Him out.

Job 5:8–9 and 36:26. “As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number . . . . Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.”

The psalmists also knew this and declared it:

Psalm 90:2. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

Psalm 102:25–27. “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.”

Psalm 145:3. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”

The prophet Isaiah seems surprised that others had not realized the wonder of who God is and the mystery of His ability to bless His people with what all they needed:

Isaiah 40:28–31. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

In the NT, Paul also understood that the study of God was rich and deep yet also beyond our ability to grasp. For this, he gave God glory:

Romans 11:33–36. “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?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

But Paul also understood more about God and His plan than the ancients. He knew that God was using His church, the Body of believers, to make His wisdom known to the spiritual realm:

Ephesians 3:8–12. “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”

 GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. These verses fill me with awe as they reveal what I know and what I don’t know. If I could fully search out God, that would put me in a higher place than is possible and it would make God a lesser being than He is. For God to be God, He must be more that I can know or grasp or search out. At the same time, He reveals enough of Himself to draw me again and again into His presence that I might know Him in a greater way. What a wonder and a joy to be His child!