When Nolan’s mother reminded him that he needed to study his Sunday school lesson and learn the memory verse, he looked up from his work on an airplane model. “Aw, Mom, I know all that stuff,” he argued. “I don’t need to study. I hear all that at church and Sunday school and at Bible Club. I even go to a Christian school.” But when Dad gave him a stern look, he obediently put away his model and worked on his lesson until bedtime.
The next morning when Mom told Nolan to hurry and get ready for church, he frowned. “We probably won’t hear anything we haven’t heard before,” he grumbled as he shuffled toward his room. A few minutes later, he was back again. “I need new pants!” he exclaimed, motioning at the pants he was wearing. “Look at these. They’re getting really short.”
Mom nodded. “I see that,” she agreed. “You’re growing right out of them. We’ll look for a new pair this week.”
“Good idea,” said Dad. He grinned. “I guess those pants must have shrunk,” he joked, “or could it be that you’re growing up?” Then he became serious. “But, Nolan, I get the feeling that you think God is like that old pair of pants.”
“What do you mean?” asked Nolan, looking at his father in surprise.
“Well, you’ve implied that you know all there is to know about God,” explained Dad. “You seem to think you’ve outgrown Him. Actually, you’ll need a whole lifetime to learn about God–what He’s like and what He does and what He teaches in His Word. Even then, you’ll only know just a little. God is so great and so wonderful, we’ll never know all there is to know about him.”
“That’s right,” said Mom. “And if you really think about the things you hear and study, you’ll be surprised by how much you can learn.”
Nolan looked down at the pants he was wearing. “Okay. I get it,” he said. “I’ll pay attention in church this morning to see what I can learn. But first I need to put on some different pants!”
It is sometimes said that knowledge is the accumulation of information, and wisdom is knowing what to do with it. Paul is deeply impressed by God’s unique grasp of both. God’s information concerning human behavior in general and response to the gospel in particular is unique in that it incorporates foreknowledge, and His wisdom in handling the human problem as demonstrated by both Gentile degradation and Jewish obduracy is shown to great effect by the way He used Jewish hardness to bring about Gentile blessing and then used Gentile blessing to bring about Jewish revival. His knowledge and wisdom truly do qualify for the adjectives “unsearchable” and “past finding out.”
It is particularly fitting that Paul’s lengthy exposition of the Christian gospel which started with a description of human failure should finish with a shout of appreciation for divine capability. By doing this Paul demonstrates the truth of the centrality of the Lord in all things, which he then articulates in one of the greatest of all statements: “For of Him”—a reminder that He is the source of all things—“and through Him”—a reminder that He is the sustainer of all things—“and to Him”—a reminder that He is the significance of all things.
Paul, having argued in chapter 11:1-32, that the “hardening” of the Jews, as to number, is not total, rounds up chapters 9-11 with praise to God, praise to the all-wise and almighty Sovereign whose resources, wisdom, decisions, and methods are beyond anyone’s comprehension. The passage before us serves as a hymn of wonder and adoration addressed to God in all his majesty. It expresses the mystery of God’s grace toward broken humanity, a mystery that cannot be fathomed, a mystery that lies in the very majesty of God. Thus we are reminded that our God is the originator, director, and end of all things.
There are many ways to describe God, but let us think of just three of them:
(1) omnipresence
(2) omnipotence, and
(3) omniscience.
These are fairly common words amongst believers, but we may need a reminder:
(1) being present at all times.
(2) all powerful.
(3) all knowing and all wise.
He is everywhere and sees everything, and we have a very limited perspective. He creates and sustains everything, and we are weak in every sense. He knows all, and we know very little.
There are events, circumstances, which, in a special way, display the hand of God, and reveal a deep “knowledge” of him. These events are part of God’s special providence. Special providence concerns his determined purpose to conform a people into the likeness of his Son. From the beginning of time God determined, purposed, to gather a people to himself and to glorify them. So, throughout history we can observe a righteous line, a remnant people, a people saved by grace through faith. Nothing has ever hindered God’s purpose to gather this people to himself, and nothing will ever hinder this purpose. Even the wilful acts of sinful humanity may serve God’s purpose. Take, for example, the crucifixion of Jesus. God’s eternal purpose is realized despite the human sinfulness. It is then we learn something of God’s “wisdom and knowledge.”
As we develop a closer relationship with Jesus, and have a deeper appreciation of the nature, character, and heart of God, through His word, it’s true that we begin to learn that all His actions, plans, and purposes are motivated by His love for us. Although we cannot always understand the ways He chooses to implement His actions, we have to hold firmly to His words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:11, ‘I know the plans I have for you, they are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope’.
However, there can be specific times when God does reveal His plans and purposes directly into our hearts by His Spirit. The apostle Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians 2:13: ‘When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths from God’s Spirit’. Nevertheless, we must always weigh these inner thoughts extremely carefully, and check them against Scripture. We should seek the advice of other trusted, mature Christians, and, if necessary, ask God to confirm His word in some way. Gideon did this in Judges 6:33-40.
When eventually we stand in glory, we will no doubt be given a tour of human history and be shown how in one event after another God was at work. His working in no way violated human freedom or exempted human beings from the consequences of their actions; nevertheless, God was working to bring things to their predetermined conclusion. To understand this fully will be the greatest possible stimulus to praise and worship.
In the meantime, humans who understand in some measure the things of which Paul has written join him in articulating their sense of wonder and take every opportunity to express their appreciation to God for God. In addition, they take seriously the necessity not only to speak His praise but also to show forth His glory by the very lives they live.
The reason that so many Christians today are weak and powerless in this world… the reason that most Christians have never once shared their faith with another person… is because they don’t understand the unsearchableness of the riches of God. Instead, they see God’s greatness as secondary to their own comfort and convenience.
God has not revealed everything about Himself. In our fallen state, we couldn’t handle it if He did. Therefore, as long as we live in these mortal bodies, we must remain humble. We must let God be God. But many are doing the exact opposite-working as hard as they can to humanize God and deify man.
We will never completely understand God’s ways or grasp why He does what He does, but we can worship Him for the goodness and love and mercy that He has already shown us! God’s wisdom and knowledge in His dealings with Israel are rich. His judgments are unsearchable. The ways in which He has worked His plan for the salvation of all people is past finding out.
(An audio version of this post can be heard by clicking this link: Romans 11 verses 33-36 God’s Wisdom)
Bibliography
- Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, p. 1561)
- Briscoe, D.S.: & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 210-211)
- Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
- Rev. Brian Finlayson, “Romans: Praise to God. 11:33-36.” Retrieved from https://www.lectionarystudies.com/sunday21aee.html
- Rev. David MAinse, “Of Him, Through Him, To Him (Romans 11:36).” Retrieved from www.100words.ca
- Dr. Jack Graham, “Going the Distance.” Retrieved from jgraham@powerpoint.org
- “Second Guessing.” Retrieved from seeds@ellel.org
- Michael Youssef, Ph.D., “God’s Ways Are Unsearchable.” Retrieved from www.ltw.org
- “Outgrown.” Retrieved from keys@lists.keysforkids.org
