The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Romans 11:33-36,
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?' 'Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen."
As Paul considers the interaction of God with the nations of earth, he observes how God has bound sinful and rebellious peoples over to disobedience that he might later express his mercy to them. In his speech at the Areopagus in Athens Paul said, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." Acts 17:24-27. Peter says of salvation, "Even angels long to look into these things." 1 Peter 1:12. These things place God's transcendence and great mercy on display.
It is these lofty thoughts that occupy Paul's thinking in Romans 11 and as he engages them in this passage he bursts into this doxology extolling the greatness and grandeur of our God. Paul points to the transcendent nature of our God. His wisdom is so far above that of any other that, "the riches of his wisdom and knowledge" and his judgments are inscrutable. Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 where God is seen as "enthroned above the circle of the earth" with its inhabitants as though they were grasshoppers, Isaiah 40:22. Paul also quotes from Job 41 where God points to the ferocity of one of his creations, "leviathon" as something to consider when contemplating opposing him. "No one is fierce enough to rouse him [leviathon]. Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me." Job 41:10-11.
Surely our God is transcendent in a way we scarcely fathom. Even a cursory reflection of these things ought to bring to our lips "to our God be the glory forever!"
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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