How Unsearchable Are His Ways!

Romans 11:33-36:

³³ 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!

     ³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the LORD?

     Or who has become His counselor?”

     ³⁵ “Or who has first given to Him

     And it shall be repaid to him?”

³⁶ For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

There are a lot of things that relate to God that are far beyond our knowledge and comprehension. God's character is so great that even learned theological men cannot comprehend His mysterious depths and riches.

John Calvin in his Institutes (1.13.1) uses the analogy of a parent speaking to their child. Just as a mother speaks with a lisp while communicating to their child, so God communicates to us with a lisp, so that we may understand some things. However we are never able to completely understand. Logically, a finite being cannot comprehend an infinite being. An infinite being cannot be squeezed into a finite space. We are finite, and God is infinite. Thus there is our problem.

The term 'incomprehensibility of God' can be misleading. It can suggest that we cannot understand anything of God and shouldn't spend time trying to grasp the infinite. That's not true at all. In that case we will be no better than the Athenians, who dedicated an altar to the unknown god (Acts 17:23).

Incomprehensibility doesn't mean knowing nothing about God, but rather that our knowledge is partial or limited. We don't have a comprehensive knowledge of God. He has revealed to us some aspects of Him through creation and the Word. What He has chosen to reveal to us we can study and use for our benefit. J.I. Packer wrote in Knowing God,

“As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it.” (1975, p. 15)

It's important to know that. God has revealed some of his nature and character to us. That revelation is important to know and study. However He has hidden most aspects of his being, aspects that we should not delve into or try to understand. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). The finite cannot comprehend the infinite, but a finite being can grasp a tiny bit of an infinite being. God has graciously allowed and enabled us to do so. Let's not waste this opportunity to know God.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).