“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33).
GOD’S WISDOM IS AN INEXHAUSTIBLE STOREHOUSE OF RICHES. The wealth of what God knows is simply incalculable. It is “marvelous” in the literal sense of the word: it causes us to marvel.
Think about the sea for a moment. Imagine a sea where the water was crystal clear. You could look into it, but you couldn’t see the bottom. You could look as far as the horizon, but you couldn’t see across it. The sea is vast beyond our imagination — and so is God. As John Ruskin said, “The infinity of God is not mysterious, it is only unfathomable — not concealed, but incomprehensible. It is a clear infinity — the darkness of the pure, unsearchable sea.”
But does this make any practical difference as far as we are concerned? I believe it should. Anything that produces awe and wonder in us is important. A greater love for God is engendered by meditating on the riches of His wisdom, as are praise and worship. Humility comes from seeing the great gap between His knowledge and our own. And trust is the product of seeing that God knows all that needs to be known, even when our knowledge falls short.
Is there not a sense in which our minds should be attracted to the wealth of God’s wisdom? We should be fascinated by it, drawn to it, pulled in by its power and majesty. What right-thinking person could get a glimpse of God’s wisdom and not be moved to meditate upon it and contemplate it? If “reaching forward” is an idea that appeals to us at all, then here is something truly worth reaching for. Learning and growing and knowing more of the mind of God is the great goal before us. We can never learn it all, but the more we learn, the more we will want to learn.
It is in Jesus Christ, of course, that we have our greatest opportunity to learn of God. I say “opportunity” because we won’t learn if we don’t choose to be receptive. But let’s avail ourselves of the opportunity. If not, we shall hear the Son say, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me?” (John 14:9).
“Every passage in the history of our Lord and Savior is of unfathomable depth and affords inexhaustible matter for contemplation. All that concerns him is infinite, and what we first discern is but the surface of that which begins and ends in eternity” (John Henry Newman).
Gary Henry — WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
