Chapter Eight: The Wisdom of God
THE WISDOM OF GOD
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
ROMANS 11:33
“At 9:15 a.m., just after the children had settled into their first lesson on the morning of 21 October 1966, a waste tip from a South Wales [coal mine] slid into the quiet mining community of Aberfan. Of all the heartrending tragedies of that day, none was worse than the fate of the village Junior School. The black slime slithered down the man-made hillside and oozed its way into the classrooms. Unable to escape, five teachers and 109 children died.
“A clergyman being interviewed by a BBC reporter at the time of [the tragedy, in response] . . . to the inevitable question about God [said], ‘Well . . . I suppose we have to admit that this is one of those occasions when the Almighty made a mistake.’”[1]
True Christians will be appalled at the clergyman’s flippant and blasphemous statement about God. But do we not sometimes wonder, when calamity of some kind strikes us, if God has not made a mistake in our lives? I think of another statement—not flippant but heartfelt—made by a sincere Christian watching a child struggle with cancer: “I sure hope God knows what He’s doing in this.” Anyone who has dealt deeply with adversity can probably identify with the doubts this person struggled with.
When we stop and think about it, we know in our heart of hearts that God does not make any mistakes in our lives or in the villages of South Wales or anywhere else. God does know what He is doing. God is infinite in His wisdom. He always knows what is best for us and what is the best way to bring about that result.
Wisdom is commonly defined as good judgment or the ability to develop the best course of action or the best response to a given situation. We all recognize that human wisdom at its best is fallible. The wisest men or women simply do not have all the facts of a given situation, nor are they able to predict with certainty the results of a given course of action. All of us from time to time agonize over some important decisions, trying to determine the best course of action.
But God never has to agonize over a decision. He does not even have to deliberate within Himself or consult others outside of Himself. His wisdom is intuitive, infinite, and infallible: “His understanding has no limit” (Psalm 147:5).
Nineteenth-century theologian J. L. Dagg described wisdom “as consisting in the selection of the best end of action, and the adoption of the best means for the accomplishment of this end.” He then said, “God is infinitely wise, because he selects the best possible end of action . . . [and] because he adopts the best possible means for the accomplishment of the end which he has in view.”[2]
The best possible end of all of God’s actions is ultimately His glory. That is, all that God does or allows in all of His creation will ultimately serve His glory. As John Piper says in his book Desiring God, “The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy himself forever.”[3] One has only to thumb through the New Testament looking at passages with the word glory in them to agree with John Piper that the chief end of God is His own glory. (Just for starters look up John 15:8; Romans 1:21; 11:36; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Ephesians 1:12, 14; Revelation 4:11; 5:13; 15:4.)
Everything that is included in the concept of God’s glory is a mystery we cannot fully comprehend. But we do know that it involves a display of all His grandeur and His wondrous perfections, including the perfection of His wisdom.
BEAUTY OUT OF ASHES
As we watch tragic events unfolding, or more particularly as we experience adversity ourselves, we often are prone to ask God why. The reason we ask is because we do not see any possible good to us or glory to God that can come from the particular adverse circumstances that have come upon us or our loved ones. But is not the wisdom of God—thus the glory of God—more eminently displayed in bringing good out of calamity than out of blessing?
The wisdom of the chess player is displayed more in winning over a capable opponent than over a novice. The wisdom of the general is displayed more in defeating a superior army than in subduing an inferior one. Even more so, the wisdom of God is displayed when He brings good to us and glory to Himself out of confusion and calamity rather than out of pleasant times.
There is no question that God’s people live in a hostile world. We have an enemy, the Devil, who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He wants to sift us like wheat as he did Peter (see Luke 22:31), or make us curse God as he tried to get Job to do. God does not spare us from the ravages of disease, heartache, and disappointment of this sin-cursed world. But God is able to take all of these elements—the bad as well as the good—and make full use of every one.
As someone years ago said, “A lesser wisdom than the Divine would feel impelled to forbid, to circumvent or to resist the outworking of these hellish plans. It is a fact that often God’s people try to do this themselves, or cry unceasingly to the Lord that He may do it. So it is that prayers often seem to lie unanswered. For we are being handled by a wisdom which is perfect, a wisdom which can achieve what it [intends] by taking hold of things and people which are meant for evil and making them work together for good.”[4]
God’s infinite wisdom then is displayed in bringing good out of evil, beauty out of ashes. It is displayed in turning all the forces of evil that rage against His children into good for them. But the good that He brings about is often different from the good we envision.
HOLINESS OUT OF ADVERSITY
Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” is an oft-quoted verse. But we often fail to note that the following verse helps us understand what the “good” of verse 28 is. Verse 29 begins with the word for, indicating that it is a continuation and amplification of the thought of verse 28. It says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
The good that God works for in our lives is conformity to the likeness of His Son. It is not necessarily comfort or happiness but conformity to Christ in ever-increasing measure in this life and in its fullness in eternity.
We see this same thought in Hebrews 12:10, “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” To share in God’s holiness is an equivalent expression to being conformed to the likeness of Christ. God knows exactly what He intends we become and He knows exactly what circumstances, both good and bad, are necessary to produce that result in our lives.
Note the contrast the author of Hebrews draws between the finite, fallible wisdom of human parents and the infinite, infallible wisdom of God. He says, “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best.” As a father, I can readily identify with the phrase “as they thought best.” Sometimes in rearing our children we agonized over the proper discipline, both in kind and amount. And even when we thought we knew what was best, there were many times when we erred.
But, the writer says without qualification, God disciplines us for our good. There is no agonizing by God, no hoping He has made the right decision, no wondering what is really best for us. God makes no mistakes. He knows infallibly with infinite wisdom what combination of good and bad circumstances will bring us more and more into sharing His holiness. He never puts too much of the “salt” of adversity into the recipe of our lives. His blending of adversity and blessing is always exactly right for us.
The author of Hebrews readily admits that discipline is painful (see verse 11). But he also assures us it is profitable. It produces “a harvest of righteousness and peace.” The purpose of God’s discipline is not to punish us but to transform us. He has already meted out punishment for our sins on Jesus at Calvary: “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him” (Isaiah 53:5). But we must be transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ. That is the purpose of discipline.
The psalmist said, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71). He is speaking of experiential learning. We can learn God’s will for our character intellectually through reading and studying the Scriptures—and we should do that. That is where change begins, as our minds are renewed. But real change—down in the depth of our souls—is produced as the tenets of Scripture are worked out in real life. This usually involves adversity. We may admire and even desire the character trait of patience, but we will never learn patience until we have been treated unjustly and learn experientially to “suffer long” (the meaning of patience) the one who treats us unjustly.
If you stop and think about it, you will realize that most godly character traits can only be developed through adversity. The kind of love that gives freely of itself at great cost to itself can only be learned when we are confronted with situations that call forth a sacrificial love. The fruit of the Spirit that is called joy cannot be learned in the midst of circumstances that produce mere “natural” happiness.
God in His infinite wisdom knows exactly what adversity we need to grow more and more into the likeness of His Son. He not only knows what we need but when we need it and how best to bring it to pass in our lives. He is the perfect teacher or coach. His discipline is always exactly suited for our needs. He never overtrains us by allowing too much adversity in our lives.
GOD NEVER EXPLAINS
Usually when we are being trained by someone in a skill, such as in athletics or music, our teacher or coach will explain to us the purpose of the particular drills he is putting us through. Though these drills may at times be tedious and even painful, we can endure them because we know their purpose and the intended end result.
But God never explains to us what He is doing, or why. There is no indication that God ever explained to Job the reasons for all of his terrible sufferings. As readers, we are taken behind the scenes to observe the spiritual warfare between God and Satan, but as far as we can tell from Scripture, God never told Job about that.
The fact is, God has not really told us, even in Scripture, why He allowed Satan to so afflict Job as he did. On the basis of the truth of Romans 8:28 (which was just as valid for Job as it is for us), we must conclude that God had a much higher purpose in allowing Satan’s onslaughts against Job than merely using Job as a pawn in a “wager” between Himself and Satan. Satan’s part in the drama seems to slip into oblivion. He is never again mentioned after his two challenges of God in Job 1–2. The story does not conclude with a conversation between God and Satan in which God claims “victory” over Satan.
Rather, the story concludes with a conversation between God and Job in which Job acknowledges that through his trials he has come into a new and deeper relationship with God. He said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5). We may conclude that this deeper relationship was one (but probably not all) of the results God had in mind all along.
Sometimes afterward we can see some of the beneficial results of adversity in our lives, but we seldom can see it during the time of the adversity. Joseph could surely see after he had become prime minister of Egypt some of the results of the affliction God had allowed in his life, but he certainly could not see it while going through it. To him the whole painful process must have seemed devoid of any meaning and very contrary to his expectations of the future, as given to him through his dreams.
But whether we see beneficial results in this life or not, we are still called upon to trust God that in His love He wills what is best for us and in His wisdom He knows how to bring it about. I think of a dear friend who for more than thirty years has passed through one adversity after another—incredible physical problems in the family, numerous financial difficulties, and family heartaches. As far as I can tell, no apparent “good” has come out of any of these adversities. There has been no happy ending as in the case of Joseph or Job. Yet, in a letter received from her while this chapter was being written, this friend said, “I know God makes no mistakes: ‘As for God, His way is perfect.’”
So we should never ask why in the sense of demanding that God explain or justify His actions or what He permits in our lives. Margaret Clarkson said, “We may not demand of a sovereign Creator that He explain Himself to His creatures. . . . God had good and sufficient reasons for His actions; we trust His sovereign wisdom and love.”[5]
When I say we should never ask why, I am not talking about the reactive and spontaneous cry of anguish when calamity first befalls us or one we love. Rather, I am speaking of the persistent and demanding why that has an accusatory tone toward God in it. The former is a natural human reaction; the latter is a sinful human reaction. Three of the psalms begin with why: “Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?” “Why have you forsaken me?” “Why have you rejected us forever?” (Psalms 10; 22; 74). But each of those psalms ends on a note of trust in God. The psalm writers did not allow their whys to drag on. They did not allow them to take root and grow into accusations against God. Their whys were really cries of anguish, a natural reaction to pain.
By contrast, there are sixteen whys in the book of Job, according to author Don Baker.[6] Sixteen times Job asked God why. He is persistent and petulant. He is accusatory toward God. And, as has been observed by many, God never answered Job’s why. Instead He answered who.
Pastor Baker, in his book on Job, says, “I have long since quit seeking the answer to that question [why?] in my own life. . . . God owes me no explanation. He has the right to do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants. Why? Because He’s God. . . . Job didn’t need to know why these things happened as they did—he just needed to know Who was responsible and Who was in control. He just needed to know God.”[7]
In using Job as an example of asking why in a bad or sinful sense, I do not mean to denigrate Job. I know that I have asked that question many times under obviously far less trying circumstances than the calamities that overcame Job. God Himself commended Job’s righteousness to us. But God was not only dealing with Job; He recorded those dealings for our benefit that we might learn from them. And it seems clear that one of the lessons God wants us to learn from Job’s experience is the lesson Pastor Baker learned: to stop asking why.
Just as God has used David’s prayer of confession and repentance of his adultery in Psalm 51 to minister to His people down through the centuries, so God has used Job’s struggles with doubt about the goodness of God to minister to His people. I still recall my first conscious struggle with the goodness of God some thirty-four years prior to writing this book. It was a passage from the book of Job, where God through Elihu confronts Job with his audacity, that met my need at the time, causing me to realize and repent of my own accusations against God. Though we don’t want to be critical of Job, we do want to learn from him about the sinfulness of asking a demanding why of God.
But though we should never ask a demanding why, we may and should ask God to enable us to understand what He may be teaching us through a particular experience. But even here we must be careful that we are not seeking to satisfy our souls by finding some spiritual “good” in the adversity. Rather we must trust God that He is working in the experience for our good, even when we see no beneficial results. We must learn to trust God when He doesn’t tell us why, when we don’t understand what He is doing.
GOD’S WAYS ARE INCOMPREHENSIBLE
Sometimes we come to the place where we do not demand of God that He explain Himself, but we try to determine or comprehend for ourselves what God is doing. We are unwilling to live without rational reasons for what is happening to us or those we love. We are almost insatiable in our quest for the why of the adversity that has come upon us. But this is a futile as well as an untrusting task. God’s ways, being the ways of infinite wisdom, simply cannot be comprehended by our finite minds.
God Himself said through Isaiah,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
ISAIAH 55:8-9
In his commentary on Isaiah, Edward J. Young said of this passage, “The implication is that just as the heavens are so high above the earth that by human standards their height cannot be measured, so also are God’s ways and thoughts so above those of man that they cannot be grasped by man in their fullness. In other words, the ways and thoughts of God are incomprehensible to man.”[8]
The apostle Paul states the same truth in his doxology at the end of Romans 11 when he exclaims in amazement,
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
ROMANS 11:33
The Williams translation of the New Testament brings out perhaps even more forcefully the depth of this passage. It says in verses 33 and 34,
How fathomless the depths of God’s resources, wisdom, and knowledge! How unsearchable His decisions, and how mysterious [footnote: literally, untraceable] His methods! For who has ever understood the thoughts of the Lord, or has ever been His adviser?[9]
God’s wisdom is fathomless, His decisions are unsearchable, His methods are mysterious and untraceable. No one has ever even understood His mind, let alone advised Him on the proper course of action. How futile and even arrogant for us to seek to determine what God is doing in a particular event or circumstance. We simply cannot search out the reasons behind His decisions or trace out the ways by which He brings those decisions to pass.
If we are to experience peace in our souls in times of adversity, we must come to the place where we truly believe that God’s ways are simply beyond us and stop asking Him why or even trying to determine it ourselves. This may seem like an intellectual “cop-out,” a refusal to deal with the really tough issues of life. In fact, it is just the opposite. It is a surrender to the truth about God and our circumstances as it is revealed to us by God Himself in His inspired Word.
C. H. Spurgeon, again in his sermon on divine providence, said, “Providence is wonderfully intricate. Ah! you want always to see through Providence, do you not? You never will, I assure you. You have not eyes good enough. You want to see what good that affliction was to you; you must believe it. You want to see how it can bring good to the soul; you may be enabled in a little time; but you can not see it now; you must believe it. Honor God by trusting him.”[10]
In Job’s final response to God, he humbly acknowledges God’s unfathomable ways. He says,
You asked, “Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?”
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
JOB 42:3
God’s ways, said Job, were too wonderful for him to know or understand. When he saw God in His great majesty and sovereignty, he repented of his arrogant questioning in “dust and ashes.” He stopped asking and simply trusted.
David, in a similar manner, bowed to the sovereign purposes and infinite wisdom of God. He said,
My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
PSALM 131:1
The great and wonderful things referred to are the secret purposes of God and His infinite means for accomplishing them. David did not exercise his heart in seeking to understand them. Instead he stilled and quieted his soul in submission and trust toward God. If we are to honor God by trusting Him, and if we are to find peace for ourselves, we must come to the place where we can honestly say, “God, I do not have to understand. I will just trust You.”
DON’T INTERPRET, BUT LEARN!
Because God’s wisdom is infinite and His ways inscrutable to us, we should also be very careful in seeking to interpret the ways of God in His providence, especially in particular events. Additionally, we need to be cautious of others who offer themselves as interpreters about the why and wherefore of all that is happening. Be wary of those who say, “God let this happen so that you might learn such and such a lesson.” The fact is we do not know what God is doing through a particular set of circumstances or events.
This does not mean we should not seek to learn from God’s providence as well as His revealed will in Scripture. Quite the contrary. As we observed earlier in the chapter, the psalmist learned God’s decrees experientially through affliction (see Psalm 119:71). The people of Israel also learned through God’s adverse providence in their lives. Deuteronomy 8:3 says,
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
God taught the nation through His divine providence—through putting them in a situation where they could not simply go to the cupboard for their daily bread—that they were utterly dependent upon Him. God was leading the nation into a land where material provision would be “naturally” plentiful (see Deuteronomy 8:7-9). He knew they would be tempted by the pride of their own hearts to say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me” (verse 17). So before they entered the land, God taught them of their dependence through His divine providence.
Some months before writing this chapter, I was invited to speak to a Christian convention on a particular theme. One day in the course of reading through 2 Timothy, the Holy Spirit clearly opened up a passage that spoke so beautifully to the theme of the convention. Scrapping the preparation I had already done, I sat down and quickly prepared three messages, about which I was very excited. But then I subtly became very proud of them. I began to entertain sinful, prideful thoughts of how well-thought-of I would be as a speaker because of these exciting messages. I began to try to usurp some of God’s glory for myself.
Shortly before the convention began, I was afflicted with a strange virus I had never had before. I was barely able to speak. I did not enjoy the convention at all. Though I gave the messages, I have no idea if anyone profited from them or not. Through those circumstances I learned experientially what God has said, “I will not give my glory to another” (Isaiah 42:8). I had memorized that verse years before and knew its truth intellectually. But through that adversity I learned it experientially. I could then say with the psalmist, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71).
GOD’S WISDOM IS GREATER THAN OUR ADVERSARIES’
God’s wisdom is not only as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth, it is also higher than the wisdom and cunning of our adversaries. This should be a great comfort to us. I personally have, at least to this point in my life, found adversity from contrary circumstances easier to bear than that which comes from the hands of other people. David apparently felt the same way. In 2 Samuel 24:14, he said, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”
Other people for various reasons may plan and scheme to treat us unjustly, to take advantage of us, or to “use” us for their own selfish ends. But Proverbs 21:30 says, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.” Therefore we can say in the words of Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Even the most nefarious schemes of our adversaries can only accomplish what God has sovereignly ordained for us and in His infinite wisdom skillfully brings to pass.
Joseph’s brothers thought they were getting rid of their brother of whom they were exceedingly envious. But God planned all along to use their scheme to send Joseph ahead of them to be their provider during the seven years of famine. They intended their actions for evil, but God intended them for good.
Saul sought to kill David because David was receiving more praise for his military prowess than was Saul. But God used those months and years, when David was hiding from Saul, to build into David the character that made him a great king and a man after God’s own heart. Many of the most meaningful psalms were apparently written during those months. One of my favorites, Psalm 34, was written during a time when David was reduced to acting as an insane man for fear of a heathen king. Yet that is the psalm I most frequently turn to when I struggle with discouragement. What Saul meant for evil, God meant for good.
Satan thought that by getting God to allow him to afflict Job, he would thereby get Job to curse God to His face. But he succeeded only in being an instrument to bring Job into a deeper and more reverent relationship with God.
Satan was given permission to afflict Paul with a thorn in the flesh to torment him. Satan probably thought he would thereby nullify the effectiveness of Paul’s ministry. Instead, he succeeded only in putting Paul in the circumstance where Paul learned experientially the sufficiency of God’s grace and that His strength is made perfect in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). Think of how many thousands of believers down through the centuries have found God’s grace to be sufficient for them through meditating on God’s words to Paul at that time.
God’s wisdom, then, is greater than the wisdom of any of our adversaries, whether they be other people or the Devil himself. Therefore, we should not fear what they seek to do, or even succeed in doing to us. God is just as much at work in those “things” as He is in the adversities of sickness, death, financial reversal, and ravages of nature.
GOD’S WISDOM IN WORLD AFFAIRS
Going beyond our own personal circumstances, we can also say that God’s infinite wisdom, directing His sovereign power, governs the world. As we look around us, it does seem that much of the world is outside of God’s control and that much of what happens makes no sense. Why should 109 children suffocate under a mud slide in South Wales, or thousands die from starvation in East Africa? Why do the seemingly more “wicked” nations so frequently prosper in the arena of world affairs? Why do the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Granted we live in a sin-cursed world, and all these things could simply be attributed to the sinfulness of mankind.
But if we accept that God is sovereign, as we saw in earlier chapters, then we must conclude that God is in control of all these sad circumstances and is guiding them with His infinite wisdom to their appointed purpose. They are not just an assortment of uncontrolled and unrelated events. Rather, they are all part of God’s perfect pattern and plan, which will one day be shown to be for both His glory and the good of His church. Professor Berkouwer is again helpful when he writes,
All facets of life are embraced in God’s rule. The plurality of life is brought under one perspective. It is not that there is a confusion of countless atomistic events in all of which God’s activity is manifest. There is a pivot, a centrum which unifies the diversity of His activity. The unity includes progress of events from His promise at the time of the fall to the completion of the formation of His holy people.[11]
Just as we should learn to stop asking why, or searching for rational explanations, or seeking to discover what “good” there is in our own adversities, so we must also learn to quiet our hearts in regard to God’s government of the universe. We must come to the place where we can say, in the words of David, “I have stilled and quieted my soul” (Psalm 131:2) about all the tragedies that come on mankind around the world.
The Puritan John Flavel wrote,
Believe firmly that the management of all the affairs of this world, whether public or personal, is in the hands of your all-wise God. . . . Resign up yourselves to the wisdom of God, and lean not to your own understanding. . . . When Melancthon was oppressed with cares and doubts about the distracting affairs of the church in his time, Luther thus chides him out of his despondency . . . do not thou presume to be the governor of the world, but leave the reins of government in his hands that made it, and best knows how to rule it.[12]
This does not mean we are to become indifferent and callous to the tremendous amount of suffering that goes on around the world. We should pray for the victims of tragedies and, where opportunity permits, respond tangibly to the relief of their sufferings. But we can be compassionate without questioning God about His government of the world.
It is not only an irreverent act to question God’s wisdom, it is also spiritually debilitating. We not only besmirch God’s glory, we also deprive ourselves of the comfort and peace that comes by simply trusting Him without requiring an explanation. An unreserved trust of God, when we don’t understand what is happening or why, is the only road to peace and comfort and joy. God wants us to honor Him by trusting Him, but He also desires that we experience the peace and joy that come as a result.
In researching the subject of God’s wisdom among the teachers of previous centuries, I came across the following paragraph, which so beautifully sums up all that I have tried to say on the subject. I append it without further comment, hoping that it will encourage you, as it has me, to trust God in all circumstances, whether private or public, and to believe that He is working all things out for our good as well as for His glory.
It should fill us with joy, that infinite wisdom guides the affairs of the world. Many of its events are shrouded in darkness and mystery, and inextricable confusion sometimes seems to reign. Often wickedness prevails, and God seems to have forgotten the creatures that he has made. Our own path through life is dark and devious, and beset with difficulties and dangers. How full of consolation is the doctrine, that infinite wisdom directs every event, brings order out of confusion, and light out of darkness, and, to those who love God, causes all things, whatever be their present aspect and apparent tendency, to work together for good.[13]