Re:Verse passage – Romans 11:33-36 (day five) “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” When you read and meditate on verses like this does it cause a reaction of personal distress or praise? The tension it creates is unique. God is bigger, wiser, and more complex than man (us/me). We are finite. We are promised that on this side of eternity our perspective and potential to fully know and understand God and His Ways are limited by our humanness. “For now we see in a mirror dimly… now I know in part.”
One of my other devotional books had a lot to say about this very topic in yesterday’s reading: “It’s humbling to admit, but important nonetheless. You will never reach true, sturdy, and lasting peace and rest of heart by means of understanding… God reveals in his Word all the things that you need to know, but he does not tell you all the things that could be known. You and I simply are not able to contain in our limited brains all of God’s plans for us and all of the reasons for those plans.
“Now, here’s the rub: God created you to be a rational human being. He designed you to think, that is, to strive to make sense out of your life and your world. That is not a bad thing in itself. In fact, it is a very good thing. Your ability to think, interpret, examine, define, explain, and understand is meant to drive you to God. Your mentality is meant to lead you to him and to enable you to understand his revelation to you. So biblical faith is not irrational, but you must face this: it will take you beyond your ability to reason.
“So there will be mysteries and surprises in our lives. If you and I suspend belief at every encounter with mystery, we will spend large portions of our lives not believing. If we question God’s goodness and love every time he acts in a way that is unexpected, we will end up concluding that he is not good. If we refuse to rest when we don’t understand, we will end up living lives of distress.
“So where is peace and rest of heart to be found? You rest in the fact that in his Word God has told you all the things you absolutely need to know, and then you rest in the complete perfection of his wisdom and character. You rest not because you know, but because the One who knows it all is the definition of what is wise and what is good.” – Paul Tripp
Discover more from The Everyday Prayer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
