Theologians have tried to define God as: Sovereign, Almighty, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Eternal Infinite, and Immortal, to mention a few attributes. But can there be a conclusive list of attributes that defines it? Because He is God, there are no words or thoughts of men and women that can explain their infinity. He is much bigger than we imagine, because his presence fills the universe. He is more powerful than we know, wiser than the wisdom of all men put together. His love is beyond human comprehension, his grace has no limits, his sanctity is unparalleled and his ways are inscrutable.
After all, He is the only true God. He has no beginning or end. He created all things and all things exist by his divine power. He has no companions to give him advice. Nobody can understand it completely. He is perfect in all his perfections. The theologian Anselmo said that God is "that of which nothing greater is conceivable". While Strong said: "God is the infinite and perfect Spirit in whom all things have their origin, sustenance and end".
With this in mind we approach one of the passages of the Bible that compacts in only four verses the greatest content that is known about God. This is Romans 11: 33-36, a passage that has been called the "doxology of theology" or an "explosion of praise." They are words written in hope and with much encouragement.
Romans 11: 33-36 11:33O depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
11:34 For who has understood the mind of the Lord? Or who was your counselor?
11:35 Or who gave him first, that he might be rewarded?
11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. Let the glory be his for centuries. Amen.
Only God knows what he has to know v. 33. That's what the treasure of his wisdom is about. Nobody knew the mysteries of the kingdom of God as well as Paul. But in the face of what he describes he recognizes himself impotent. In the imagination one can see him desperate to get to the bottom, humiliated there on the edge to end up worshiping the amazing thing of God. And how deep is God? Consider this example. Imagine a man in the ocean walking on water while he is sure he feels the sand under his feet. But see it now getting deeper into the depths where it no longer touches the sand.
Suddenly a wave takes it out to sea and then a current drags it and realizes that it is in the depth, that it goes to the abyss. It is there where he will have to exclaim: "Oh depth, I drown, I perish!" This is what Paul felt after addressing various issues such as the sovereignty of God, the sin of man and the eternal plan of God. He arrived at a moment where everything was so profound that he preferred not to follow but to praise all that "wealth of his wisdom and the knowledge of God". And it is that the plan of redemption, rather than arguing what we have to do and praise him and also say "oh, depth of justice, grace and forgiveness of God!". Everything God is and does is full of that wealth. When you think of that depth, look up and down.
Only God makes plans that we can not understand (v.33b). His judgments are described as unfathomable. Other versions translate it as "impenetrable" and "indecipherable". The word judgments here refers to his plans and also to his designs. In the Pauline praise this exclamation seems to touch that where only God, with himself, works, plans and determines; but because they are impenetrable no one can know them.
The only one who revealed to us part of that judgment was our Lord Jesus Christ, because although it is true that God "nobody ever saw him", he made him known and showed us something of his incomprehensible judgments. The plans that God makes can not be known, and although we wanted to know about them, we could not understand them. Our mind is very small. But what we should know is that the "judgments of the Lord are all righteous." On this particular John Wesley exemplified it this way: "Show me a worm that fully understands a man, and I will show you a man who can understand God." Nobody can understand it.
Only God knows everything that happens (33c). His ways, that is, the way he uses to achieve his purposes are described as "inscrutable"; This means that there is something that can not be known or found out. In the case of God, his fingerprint can be detected, but it is impossible to follow it to the end. God's way of proceeding can not be understood by man. It is only by submitting to his judgments and ways that man can prove they are correct.
So as he is "inscrutable" he has only left us the simple things to know them as if it were an open highway where all men can travel. However, there is a closed road for that where only he can travel. So the questions of why diseases, accidents, crimes, conflicts in the family, hurricanes, earthquakes and so on occur are due to what Paul said about the ways of God.
"In this way a Christian should never ask" why Lord things happen "but rather" what purpose does God have with everything that happens "."
THE BIBLE TEXT LEADS US TO THREE AMAZING REASONS FOR US TO PRAISE GOD
God is the source of everything v. 36th It has been said that this verse contains the secret of a "Christian worldview" because it dethrones man from his place and places God as the King and Lord of the universe. God is the source of all things, which means that all things flow from him. The prayer "because of him ..." is a way of finding the origin from which all things flow. Men keep breaking their heads to discover where everything has come from. In this way it is believed that the universe is the result of a huge explosion that happened millions of years to get where we are now. The question that continues is: How did everything come about for that explosion to occur? Where did the raw material come from to reach this conclusion? The Bible, without going into scientific complexities, simply tells us that things come from it. So, while the foolish man does not recognize God in this, the psalmist will tell us that the "heavens tell the glory of God ..." (Psalm 19: 1).
God is the sustenance of all v. 36b. The Bible states that things flow from him, therefore he is the reason for all things. When God created the earth we are informed that it was "disorderly and empty". From then on the creative word came into action. Contrary, then, to the scientific theories about the appearance of the universe, the Bible tells us that God used six days to appear everything we see now and what we do not see. Through a singular act and divinely thought, God began saying first "let there be light" and the light was made. Why light first? Because she would be the very reason of everything created. The order that followed the creation after this is simply amazing. Everything was done according to the divine plan. Everything came to life as a result of the creative word "and God said". Thus, the God who gave birth to the created sustains it and each created thing responds with the wisdom with which the Creator made it. Consider how nature responds to the wisdom of its Creator.
God is the owner of all things 36c. This exclamation from Pablo is impressive because he tells us that nothing is excluded before him. God is the beginning, middle and end of all things. Paul's conclusion is that everything comes from him, everything continues for him and the end of all things will also be for him. Before creation, God was complete and had no need of anything. After he saw that everything he had done was "very good", he made sure to take care of the created. Who like you, oh, God! You have the property title of the creation. So God made man in his image and likeness "for him". After all this there will be a new earth and all that will be "for him". And in the end we will have a new, glorified body and that body will be "for him". Everything, everything, everything will finally be for him. So in the face of the depth of his riches, we say: "To him be the glory for ever. Amen "v.36d.
God is amazing. No one compares to him, therefore, as someone said: "In life and in death, to him be the glory for ever! In joy and sadness, to him be the glory for ever! On good days and dark nights, to him be the glory for ever! In sickness and in health, to him be the glory for ever! On the road and in his house, to him be the glory for centuries! In marriage and with his children, to him be the glory for ever! In prosperity and in poverty, to him be the glory for ever! In times of peace as in times of anguish, to him be the glory for ever! In the gentle breeze or in the storm, to him be the glory for centuries! In the classroom or in the business, to him be the glory for centuries! In the moments of victory or defeat, to him be the glory for centuries! In the prayers answered or in the unanswered prayers, to him be the glory for ever! In tears and laughter, to him be the glory for centuries! In heaven and on earth, to him be the glory for ever! When the hope is gone and all we have left is God, only to him be the glory forever! Amen". Let no one else steal the glory of the one amazing God.