PASTOR’S CORNER, Larry Moore, Faith Tabernacle Church, Liberal

33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995)

There are moments in life when we just can’t seem to find the right words. The way a newborn’s cry pierces the silence. A sunrise pushes back the last stubborn edges of a long night, and you stand there watching light ushering you into a new day. You try to speak, but dawn has already said it better. A forgiveness you didn’t deserve finds you, wraps its arms around your failure and you realize you have no vocabulary for mercy that deeply. In these moments, your soul doesn’t analyze, it adores. And this is where we find Paul in the eleventh chapter of Romans. As one pastor comments: “After climbing eleven chapters of the most towering theology ever written— after scaling the cliffs of the doctrine of election, walking the ridges of mercy, and tracing the winding paths of God’s redemptive plan— he reaches a height where human language cannot breathe. And standing on that summit, with the winds of eternity rushing past him, Paul does the only thing a soul can do when it finally sees God as He is: He worships. Words break… and wonder begins.”

When we become so overwhelmed and awed by God’s elective grace and goodness, it ought to move us praise Him for His infinite knowledge, wisdom, and Sovereign purpose.

1. The Riches, Wisdom, and Knowledge of Our God are INFINITE

What has Paul so enraptured? I can imagine he cannot contain his emotion as he has been confronted by God’s absolute Sovereign choice in salvation. He’s overwhelmed at the exceeding greatness and abundance of God’s capacity to be able to understand and act in wisdom! Swiss Theologian Godet says; “Like a traveler who has reached the summit of an Alpine ascent, the apostle turns and contemplates. Depths are at his feet, but waves of light illumine them, and there spreads all around an immense horizon which his eye commands.”1

Job asks: “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are as high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than all the earth and broader than the sea!”

His Judgments are unsearchable and His Ways are unfathomable! We haven’t the capacity in our finite, human brains to even understand God’s wisdom and knowledge!

2. The Mind and Counsel of Our God are INSCRUTABLE (beyond comprehension; A mystery)

The questions Paul asks are very piercing. The implication is who among God’s creatures can know the mind of the all-knowing God?  Who is there who by human wisdom can descend the depths of God’s wisdom and know what He thinks and why He thinks it? He needs no counselor, nor is any human capable of being His counselor; he is infinitely wise.

We must recognize that God does not adhere to any external standard of justice; rather, He IS the standard. His will is just because HE is inherently just. There is no standard to which He conforms; rather it’s our sense of justice that must conform to God.

3. The Sovereign Purpose of Our God is INESCAPABLE

He is the Source of everything, and the One with ultimate responsibility. God is the One who keeps the created order in existence and that it is moving in the direction He intends. He deserves all praise and all glory, forever! 1 Chronicles 29:11—12 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and Your rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.”

If everything is FROM Him, then nothing we have is ours. If everything is THROUGH Him, then nothing in our life is random. If everything is TO Him, then our life has one ultimate purpose: His glory. If God’s purpose is inescapable, then resisting Him is foolish—and surrendering to Him is freedom. If God is the end of all things, then worship is the only fitting response.

When you and I finally see the Sovereign God as He is, wonder overwhelms words and worship becomes the only fitting response.