How Should the Wisdom of God Affect How I Live?

Both All-Knowing And Perfect in Wisdom

This morning we’ll be continuing our Sermon Series on the Attributes of God. Week by week we’re examining what different parts of Scripture tell us about God and his perfections.  And at this point in our series, we’re taking a closer look at seven different characteristics of God. We looked at God’s being last week. And this week we’ll be giving attention to God’s infinite, eternal, and unchanging wisdom. From this, we understand – not only does God know all things, but even more than that – he also knows how to best use all knowledge. That’s what we’re dealing with when we consider the wisdom of God.

So if you have a Bible nearby, please turn with me to Romans, Chapter 11. I’ll be reading from Romans 11, starting at verse 33. But before I read our text, please pray with me:

[Pray and Read Text]

Who’s the Genius?

I remember, when I was growing up, I had some classmates who would sometimes confuse the idea of discovering something with the act of inventing something. And so they would sometimes say things like, “Benjamin Franklin invented electricity,” even though in reality, his contribution to science was that he discovered certain things about electricity. He didn’t invent them. And Isaac Newton didn’t invent gravity – he just discovered how it functioned, and described it mathematically. And then on the flip side of this, we generally wouldn’t say to say that Alexander Graham Bell discovered the telephone. That almost makes it sound like he was out walking in the woods, and he found a telephone growing from or tree or something. But we’d say that he invented the telephone – he made something new.

In either case, when we look at history, people who made major discoveries, or who invented new devices – they often receive a lot of attention. They’re heralded as geniuses. They’re referred to as the greatest minds that ever walked the face of the planet. Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and the Wright Brothers – these are names that almost everyone has heard of. When it comes to measuring knowledge and thinking capacity, we often operate as though these figures are the gold standard.

But it’s actually very important for us to realize, that when it comes to having perception and knowledge, these men are barely scratching the surface. In fact, we could even say there’s a sense in which human inventors aren’t a real thing. Because there’s no such thing as a person who’s come up with a totally new idea – no such thing as someone who’s pieced together a machine that no one has ever thought of before. Because even before the foundation of the world was laid, God thought of them. He already had on his mind all the blueprints and product designs we could possibly dream of.

When we zoom out, and compare the wisdom of human beings compared to the wisdom of God – it’s like holding up a speck of dust next to the hugeness of the Sun. And this perfect wisdom of God has always been wrapped up in who he is, as one of his perfections.

And God’s incredible wisdom is in view in our text this morning. As a bit of background, here, this book of the Bible – this letter to the Romans – it was written by the apostle Paul. Paul had been given a special commission by Jesus Christ directly to proclaim the good news of Christianity. And up to this point in Romans, Paul has been helping his readers to see the world as God sees it. He’s been explaining the awful corruption of the human heart, our failures to keep God’s law, our inability to make ourselves right with God. But he’s also been explaining God’s surprising love for sinners, and his plan to bring salvation through Christ, who died for our sins. And Paul has explained various other things, like union with Christ, the work of God’s Spirit, and the Lord’s decreed method for saving his chosen people among the Gentiles and the Jews. And as Paul reaches the end of Chapter 11 – as he considers the precision & perfections of everything God has planned, he responds by marveling over God’s wisdom.

In these verses, he highlights some key aspects of God’s wisdom, and also what a right attitude toward that wisdom should look like. And so as I unpack what the Bible says here, I want to make four main points from our text. First, God’s wisdom is evident. Second, God’s wisdom is unsearchable. Third, God’s wisdom is intrinsic, & fourth, God’s wisdom is admirable. Let’s look at each of these points.

The Wisdom of God Is Evident

First, you’ll notice in our text that Paul speaks about God’s wisdom as something that’s evident – as something that’s noticeable and knowable. When Paul cries out, “Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God,” he expects that his readers will know something of what he’s talking about. Because he’s aware that God’s wisdom has been displayed and revealed to people in a variety of different ways.

For one thing, we see God’s wisdom and intelligence in everything that he’s created. We see it in the efficient design of DNA. We see it the cells of living things, where a thousand different biochemical reactions are perfectly coordinated with each other. We see his vast wisdom in creating the Sun. Somehow, God figured out how to suspend a nuclear furnace up in space that could give us light and heat, and then he perfectly positioned the earth so that we’d benefit from it without burning up or freezing to death. And then, of course, God has designed you and I. And he’s given us brains and senses that are uniquely capable of observing all these things, and appreciating him for it. If you and I just keep our eyes open, the functionality and fruitfulness of the created world should prompt us to say, “Oh the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.” Because it’s on display everywhere.

For another thing, though, God’s wisdom is also revealed in his plan to rescue and restore sinners. As Paul’s writing here in Romans 11, that’s most recently what’s been on his mind. All the details about how God will save, who God will save, when God will save, and what God will save us into – there’s a perfect wisdom in how all these things are handled. And the end result is that we get a salvation that’s far better than anything we could have invented for ourselves.

Because through God’s wise plan, he saves his people from every form of evil imaginable – from corruption, accursedness, oppression, idolatry, death, the devil, Hell, fear, despair. And we’re able to have a right position with God that never fails, because he’s given us a Savior who never fails. He brings us a salvation that’s truly certain and secure, because it ultimately rests on his achievements and abilities – not ours.

And even more than this, the wisdom of God’s salvation isn’t just seen in what he saves us from. But it’s also seen in what he saves us into. When we trust in Christ, we gain the extraordinary blessing of God’s perfect favor – his forgiveness – his Fatherhood. We’re filled with his indwelling Spirit. And we’re guaranteed an inheritance in his presence, with eternal life and everlasting peace. And this is just the beginning. There’s a deliberate design in the way God has chosen to save sinners like us. And this is another way that he helps us to see his great wisdom.

But there are other ways that God makes his wisdom known to us, too. God also shows us his wisdom is in the way he governs human history to accomplish his good purposes. In the passage Pastor Josh preached from last week, Acts 17 we read that God has determined the allotted period of nations, and the boundaries of their dwelling places. And Proverbs 21, verse 1 declares that “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; [and] he [the Lord] turns [the king’s heart] wherever he will.” God’s work to direct world events is mysterious in many ways. But the Bible reveals that God presides over the affairs of the whole world, from the highest king to the lowest crumb. In his wisdom, he rebukes empires, he humbles his creatures, he sustains his people, he holds back evil, he brings revival, and he builds his Church.

As a clear example of how God’s wisdom is reflected in history, think about the timing of Christ’s coming into the world. According to God’s plan, Jesus came in the days of the Roman Empire. And historians have noted – that window of history was uniquely ideal for the spread of Christianity. Because the Roman military maintained widespread peace and social stability. For the first time, cities were connected by good roads. And many of the people shared a common language. This allowed the good news to spread fast and far. And from our vantage we can now see clearly, there was a wisdom in God’s timing here.

But I’ll mention one more way that God makes his wisdom evident to us. He also, of course, makes his wisdom known to us in the Bible. God has spoken from heaven, in a special way, to show us how to tell the difference between wisdom and foolishness. He gives us hundreds of Proverbs. He gives a multitude of wise commands. And he even teaches us wisdom through his own example and interactions. The Bible is filled with displays of God’s wisdom that we’re supposed be sharpened by.

And so it’s worth insisting here – being a Christian isn’t anti-intellectual. It doesn’t force us to turn our brains off. But engaging with the Christian faith actually forces us to turn our brains on. It forces us to think more deeply about things than we might otherwise be comfortable with. Because the God that the Bible introduces us to, is a God who thinks, a God who knows, a God of perfect wisdom. And if our perception of God is right, we’ll regularly find ourselves on our knees. And we’ll be right there next to the apostle Paul, saying “Oh the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.”

The Wisdom of God Is Unsearchable

But there’s something else that’s important to note, here. Even though there’s a real sense in which aspects of God’s wisdom are knowable to us, the Bible also makes it clear that his wisdom extends beyond our ability to grasp. His wisdom is unsearchable. And this brings us to my second point from our text. That God’s wisdom is unsearchable.

Just look at the second half of verse 33, in our text. Paul continues to affirm the great wisdom of God. And he says, “How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways!” And I want to make sure you appreciate what’s being said here. Because you’ll notice, Paul sees God making judgments, making decisions, that he doesn’t understand. Paul isn’t able to see the logic in what God is doing. And think about it, when way of God’s dealing with you doesn’t make sense, how do you normally respond? If you’re anything like me, there’s a strong temptation to grumble, to feel self-pity, to be annoyed and ungrateful. Maybe even this past week, you questioned God’s wisdom in sending us a string of 90-degree days. It might seem to you that that wasn’t a good idea.

But notice – when Paul doesn’t understand the logic of God’s decisions, do you see what he does? He doesn’t complain. He worships! Because even though Paul doesn’t understand what God is doing, there is one thing he understands. He knows that God is operating with a higher wisdom that’s far greater than what Paul has. Far greater than a warehouse full of the best AI supercomputers. God’s wisdom is unsearchable. It’s comprehensive. The end of it can’t be found.

Just imagine if you were asked to count how many different types of products are sold in your local Walmart Supercenter. Do you have any idea how many that is? On average, it’s about 142,000 different types of products. But that’s not even the full scope of the products that Walmart sells. For every one distinct product you can find in their store, you can find more than 20 additional products for sale online. It’s already ridiculous how many different types of breakfast cereal there are in the store. But imagine – beyond the Cheerios you see on the shelf, Walmart sells something like 20 additional types of Cheerios online. But if that isn’t staggering enough, for every one product sold online by Walmart, Amazon apparently sells 100. There are hundreds of millions of listings on their website online. It’s so massive, we really can’t wrap our minds around such a huge number. And if this is true when it comes to earthly things – then of course, it makes sense that we wouldn’t be able to wrap our minds around heavenly things. The wisdom of God is unsearchably great.

And with this, Paul also says here that God’s wisdom is inscrutable – it’s uninterpretable. The Greek word that’s used here is unique. It’s actually connected to the idea of tracking footprints. Paul’s saying here that we God’s paths can’t be tracked. When he’s doing a great work, our human minds won’t be able to follow along with all that he’s doing, and where he’s going with it. It’s untrackable. But notice again – Paul’s inability to discern what God is doing doesn’t plunge him into doubt or despair. But Paul’s actually comforted by this. Because Paul sees that this is simply a reminder that God’s wisdom is higher and more complete than his own. And just like Paul, every Christian should be encouraged to realize – the greatest mind in the cosmos is ruling the world and overseeing your soul. This shouldn’t bring us concern – this should bring us confidence! Whatever your past may be – whatever your present circumstances might be – you can entrust it all to the wisdom of a perfect God, and press on with faith.

I’m not saying that this is always going to feel easy for us. There may be times when it seems like everything good in your life is failing and falling apart. You have to remember how confusing God’s plan would have been for Jesus’s disciples. Because Jesus had seemed to great and powerful. He healed the sick, he calmed storms, he raised the dead, he brought new spiritual teachings with authority. The disciples fully expected that Jesus would be set up on a throne in Jerusalem, as the chosen King of God. But the unthinkable happened. Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest followers. He was falsely charged with sins he didn’t commit. He was mocked, abused, stripped naked, nailed to a cross like a criminal, and he was condemned to one of the most horrific deaths known in the history of the world. From the perspective of human wisdom, this seems like utter chaos and foolishness. If Jesus really was the precious Lord of heaven, how do you explain the cross?

But just as Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 1, the cross of Christ is the ultimate example of how God’s wisdom is unsearchably high above ours. Because the scandal of Jesus’ crucifixion ends up being the pinnacle of his victory over evil. At the cross, God addressed the sin problem we couldn’t see, with a Savior we didn’t know we needed, in order to bring us eternal life that we didn’t even know was possible. All this to say – even in life events that seem disastrous, we can confidently entrust ourselves to the God who reigns in heaven with perfect wisdom. We can have faith that his ways are unsearchably right.

God’s Wisdom Is Intrinsic

But in the next two verses of our text, there’s a third aspect of God’s wisdom mentioned. We see that his wisdom is intrinsic, or it’s inherent to him. And this is my third point – that God’s wisdom is intrinsic.

You’ll see in verses 34 and 35, Paul asks a series of three rhetorical questions. He says, “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” And of course, as Paul asks these questions, his point is that no one has done these things. No one has mapped out God’s thoughts. Nobody’s given God new ideas or advice. And there’s not a person on earth who’s enriched God with something that he didn’t already have.

When it comes to God’s wisdom, he didn’t have to hunt for it and discover it. And he didn’t have to have someone teach him. But the entirety of God’s vast insight and intellect is originally and naturally his own. He has all wisdom in himself.

And of course, this is obviously much different from us. Because for you and I, in order to have knowledge and discretion, we need to learn it somehow. What I’ve found is that the simplest, least painful way to learn wisdom is by listening to people who are older and smarter than I am. But for some reason, we often don’t learn things the easy way like this. Instead, we end up needing to learn the hard way – by making foolish mistakes.

I remember [illustration of high school frozen windshield incident]. All things considered, things didn’t turn out as bad as they could have. And I learned from that situation – better to slow down and do things right the first time, then to be in a rush and make more problems for myself.

But, you see, God has never had to learn from foolish mistakes like this. He’s never had to learn at all. God has simply known. He’s had every day of your life written in his book, as we see in Psalm 139:16. He understands all the mysteries of the Universe – because he designed the Universe. He’s always known all knowledge, and he has rightly understood how to apply all knowledge in his perfect wisdom. And all this is simply rooted in the core of who God is. No matter what new idea you might think you’re coming up with – God thought of it first. Whenever you learn true wisdom, you’re not just learning an abstract idea, but your mind is actually being brought into alignment with the mind of God.

In fact, that’s quite possibly why the Bible repeatedly says things like, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Because the first step in gaining wisdom is to realize ‘God is much greater than me! I don’t have wisdom in myself like God does. My knowledge isn’t perfect. My assessments might be wrong. My opinions probably need refinement. So if I’m going to know what’s good, I need to align my thinking with God’s thinking.’ When you come to that realization, that’s the beginning of wisdom. That’s how you start to understand the world, and life, and everything else the way you were originally made to. It all begins with rightly revering the wisdom that God has intrinsically in himself.

I want to go back to those three rhetorical questions that Paul asked. And I want to walk through them. Because they’re really helpful for teaching us how to live, given the reality of God’s wisdom.

First off, Paul asks, “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” Of course, I’ve already stated that no one knows his mind fully, other than the Lord himself. But let’s remember, this is true for you and I personally. You don’t know all the workings of God’s mind. And I don’t either. All we can know about his thoughts and intentions are the things that God himself has told us in the Bible. And it’s practically important to embrace this. Because it keeps us from being presumptuous and belligerent in the way we hold our opinions. It cautions us about speculating beyond what the Bible says, which will often lead ourselves and others to wrong conclusions. But in addition to this – I think this is really freeing – Paul also makes it clear that you and I aren’t expected to know God’s plans for everything. I think a lot of Christians today have gotten the idea that God expects you to figure out his secret plans for your life before you can make a decision. A lot of people get bent out of shape, looking for signs from heaven, confused because God isn’t telling them Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3. But I hope you see – that’s not God’s expectation for us. Whatever it is God expects us to know – he’s given it to us in his word. And for everything else, we don’t need to know all God’s plans before we move forward. We can simply rest in the fact that God knows his plans. And that’s enough.

Consider Paul’s second question, though. He asks the question, “Who has been [the Lord’s] counselor?” Now, I’m sure I’ve tried to give advice to God before. And my guess is that many of you have, too. But Paul’s point is that God doesn’t need your counsel. Certainly, we should feel the freedom to pray, and ask God to provide us with good things. Jesus himself taught us to that. But we shouldn’t imagine that God needs our prayers in order to get new ideas of how to help us.

Sometimes around Christmas, Taylor and I will call random family members to ask, “What can we get you for Christmas? Do you have any gloves? What do you need?” But, see, God isn’t like that. He already knows what you need – even better than you do. And so our prayers aren’t primarily for God’s sake – to give him advice, or to remind him that we exist and could use a little help. But God wisely urges us to pray for our own sake – to set our hope on God, rather than ourselves – to trust in his good judgment, rather than our own. We don’t counsel God. But he’s the great counselor who stands ready to advise us. Just as James 1:5 encourages us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” He’s the ultimate counsel-giver.

And this ties in with Paul’s last question. Because he asks, “And who has given a gift to [the Lord] that he might be repaid?” Again, the answer is no one. God reminds us here that you and I haven’t done anything to make him richer. We haven’t put the Lord in a position where he owes us something, or where we’re his master, and he’s obligated to serve us. But every good thing – including wisdom itself – it comes from God. He’s the giver. And because his decisions to give or to hold things back are always perfectly wise, this should make us thankful and hopeful in whatever circumstance we’re in. Because God’s decisions will always turn out to be wiser and more wonderful than the choices we would have made.

This high view of God’s wisdom – it probably won’t come naturally to you. You’ll have to struggle, sometimes, to really believe that God’s ways are wiser than yours. But over and over again, the Bible urges us to be aware – our view of God is too small. Our regard for his supernatural insight and knowledge is just a withered shell of what it should be.

God’s Wisdom Is Admirable

And so in my last point – point number 4 – I want to press home the reality that God’s wisdom is admirable. I almost dislike using the word admirable, because it doesn’t seem strong enough. But I simply want to make sure it’s clear from our text, that God’s wisdom is something that should be admired.

Throughout these four verses, it’s obvious – Paul isn’t just giving us a dry lecture about God’s academic capacity. But Paul’s worshiping. He has his face to heaven, he’s actively admiring God, and adoring him because of how great and mysterious God’s thoughts are.

Admiring people isn’t a strange concept to us. If you’ve been watching the World Cup this week, it’s possible you’ve been admiring the endurance of the players, or the precision of their ball handling. Or you might admire historic generals, for their great military strategies – or presidents, for their public speaking ability. These are impressive figures. And I think we all know what it feels like to admire these types of people. But with respect to God, those feelings admiration should be on hyperdrive. How much more should we be fascinated with God?

You’ll notice in these verses, Paul isn’t in a hurry to get done with his God time, so he can move on to his house chores or schoolwork. But Paul loves to contemplate God and his brilliance. He wants his thoughts to linger on this subject. Paul admires God’s wisdom, and how it stands behind everything in the universe that’s pure and pleasurable. And Paul’s trying to lead us into this posture of worship, too. He even brings in the entirety of creation. Because he acknowledges that all things are from God, and for him, and to him. All things exist, to testify to the infinite, enduring glory of God, who is wise beyond our wildest imaginations. If we have any concept of the heights and depths of God’s wisdom we should admire him. We should enjoy him. But beyond this, even, we should want to be like him, by reflecting his wisdom in the way we live.

After all, when a young boy admires his father, he wants to grow up and be like his dad – to be strong, to be smart, to be brave. And if we’re really convinced of this simple idea – that God is fabulously wise – we should have a similar desire, to grow up into God’s wisdom. It should be one of our chief goals in life. For parents, this should be one of our highest goals in how we raise our children – to teach them how to be wise.

We don’t appreciate often enough that God has shown his wisdom on us. We’re no longer left in darkness and ignorance. We don’t need to be driven by our animal instincts and impulses. Because the wisdom of God has called to us from the street corner – to turn from our foolishness, to feast from the fullness of Christ, and to have our minds renewed by His Word and Spirit. What’s holding you back from living this way? If you haven’t done so already, turn to the God of wisdom, and trust him. Let’s pray: