God’s Wisdom Is Undeniable

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
–Romans 11:33

In Romans 11:33-36, Paul praised God for His wisdom. The wisdom of God is undeniable. Look at verse 33: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”

There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. People can have lots of knowledge and not have an ounce of wisdom. We call those people educated fools. It is a terrible thing to have a lot of knowledge and not know how to apply it. But you know what is worse? It is worse to have a lot of knowledge and apply that knowledge in an evil way. For example, the reason we are nervous about insurance companies having access to our medical records is we fear what they might do with that knowledge: raise our insurance premiums or cancel our insurance policies. We are fearful about people’s knowledge leading them to do what is evil, but we never have to worry about that with God. Even though God has complete knowledge, He also has the ability and the goodness to use that knowledge for good. That is what wisdom is all about.

God uses His knowledge in a way to achieve a good and perfect purpose. We see God’s wisdom on display all throughout the book of Romans. For example, you see God’s wisdom in justification. God had the knowledge that we are sinful, but God also had the wisdom to take that knowledge and develop a plan for our justification. Think about it: how could God take vile, rebellious sinners like us and declare us not guilty without compromising His own righteousness? Only God could come up with a plan whereby He would come to earth in human form, and He would suffer the consequences of our sin against Him. Therefore, by trusting in Him, we who are guilty would be declared righteous, and God would never compromise His holiness in doing so. That is a genius plan. John Stott said it this way: “The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.” Only an all-wise God could come up with that kind of a plan. Or think about the problem of Israel, described in Romans 9-11. God selected a nation, Israel, and they rebelled against Him. How would God’s purpose get accomplished? Only God could formulate a plan whereby Israel would be given free will to accept Christ, Israel would reject Christ, God would use Israel’s rejection to save Gentiles, and then the salvation of Gentiles would provoke Israel to jealousy and bring about Israel’s conversion. Only God could come up with that kind of a plan.

Now, if God is able to solve such massive problems as our justification and Israel’s salvation, don’t you think He is capable of solving the relatively small problem you are facing today? If God’s wisdom is sufficient to solve those humongous, worldwide problems, then don’t you believe God can solve the problem you are facing at work or in your family or with your finances? God’s wisdom is absolutely undeniable.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Paul’s Praise Chorus” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2014.

John Stott, “The Cross Of Christ,” anniversary edition (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006), 159.

Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.