CHAPTER 11
The Wisdom of God
Thou, O Christ, who wert tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin,
make us strong to overcome the desire to be wise and to be reputed wise by
others as ignorant as ourselves. We turn from our wisdom as well as from our
folly and flee to Thee, the wisdom of God and the power of God. Amen.
In this brief study of the divine wisdom we begin with faith in God. Following
our usual pattern, we shall not seek to understand in order that we may believe,
but to believe in order that we may understand. Hence, we shall not seek for
proof that God is wise. The unbelieving mind would not be convinced by any proof
and the worshipping heart needs none.
”Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever,” cried Daniel the prophet, ”for
wisdom and might are his: . . . he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to
them that know understanding: he revealeth the deep and secret things: he
knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.” The believing
man responds to this, and to the angelic chant, ”Blessing, and glory, and
wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for
ever and ever.” It never occurs to such a man that God should furnish proof of
His wisdom or His power. Is it not enough that He is God?
When Christian theology declares that God is wise, it means vastly more than it
says or can say, for it tries to make a comparatively weak word bear an
incomprehensible plentitude of meaning that threatens to tear it apart and crush
it under the sheer weight of the idea. ”His understanding is infinite,” says the
psalmist. It is nothing less than infinitude that theology is here laboring to
express.
Since the word infinite describes what is unique, it can have no modifiers. We
do not say ”more unique” or ”very infinite.” Before infinitude we stand silent.
There is indeed a secondary, created wisdom which God has given in measure to
His creatures as their highest good may require; but the wisdom of any creature
or of all creatures, when set against the boundless wisdom of God, is
pathetically small. For this reason the apostle is accurate when he refers to
God as ”only wise” That is, God is wise in Himself, and all the shining wisdom
of men or angels is but a reflection of that uncreated effulgence which streams
from the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.
The idea of God as infinitely wise is at the root of all truth. It is a datum of
belief necessary to the soundness of all other beliefs about God. Being what He
is without regard to creatures, God is of course unaffected by our opinions of
Him, but our moral sanity requires that we attribute to the maker and sustainer
of the universe a wisdom entirely perfect. To refuse to do this is to betray the
very thing in us that distinguishes us from the beasts.
In the Holy Scriptures wisdom, when used of God and good men, always carries a
strong moral connotation. It is conceived as being pure, loving, and good.
Wisdom that is mere shrewdness is often attributed to evil men, but such wisdom
is treacherous and false. These two kinds of wisdom are in perpetual conflict.
Indeed, when seen from the lofty peak of Sinai or Calvary, the whole history of
the world is discovered to be but a contest between the wisdom of God and the
cunning of Satan and fallen men. The outcome of the contest is not in doubt. The
imperfect must fall before the perfect at last. God has warned that He will take
the wise in their own craftiness and bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent.
Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve
those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so
there can be no need to guess or conjecture. Wisdom sees everything in focus,
each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined
goals with flawless precision.
All God’s acts are done in perfect wisdom, first for His own glory, and then for
the highest good of the greatest number for the longest time. And all His acts
are as pure as they are wise, and as good as they are wise and pure. Not only
could His acts not be better done: a better way to do them could not be
imagined. An infinitely wise God must work in a manner not to be improved upon
by finite creatures.
O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all. The earth
is full of Thy riches!
Without the creation, the wisdom of God would have remained forever locked in
the boundless abyss of the divine nature. God brought His creatures into being
that He might enjoy them and they rejoice in Him. ”And God saw every thing that
he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
Many through the centuries have declared themselves unable to believe in the
basic wisdom of a world wherein so much appears to be so wrong. Voltaire in his
Candide introduces a determined optimist, whom he calls Dr. Pangloss, and into
his mouth puts all the arguments for the ”best-of-all-possible-worlds”
philosophy. Of course the French cynic took keen delight in placing the old
professor in situations that made his philosophy look ridiculous.
But the Christian view of life is altogether more realistic than that of Dr.
Pangloss with his ”sufficient reason.” It is that this is not at the moment the
best of all possible worlds, but one lying under the shadow of a huge calamity,
the Fall of man.
The inspired writers insist that the whole creation now groans and travails
under the mighty shock of the Fall. They do not attempt to supply ”sufficient
reasons”; they assert that the ”creature was made subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.” No effort
here to justify the ways of God with men; just a simple declaration of fact. The
being of God is its own defense.
But there is hope in all our tears. When the hour of Christ’s triumph arrives,
the suffering world will be brought out into the glorious liberty of the sons of
God. For men of the new creation the golden age is not past but future, and when
it is ushered in, a wondering universe will see that God has indeed abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence. In the meantime we rest our hope in the
only wise God, our Saviour, and wait with patience the slow development of His
benign purposes.
In spite of tears and pain and death we believe that the God who made us all is
infinitely wise and good. As Abraham staggered not at the promises of God
through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving the glory to God, and was
fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able to perform, so do we base
our hope in God alone and hope against hope till the day breaks. We rest in what
God is. I believe that this alone is true faith. Any faith that must be
supported by the evidence of the senses is not real faith. ”Jesus saith unto
him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they
that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
The testimony of faith is that, no matter how things look in this fallen world,
all God’s acts are wrought in perfect wisdom. The incarnation of the Eternal Son
in human flesh was one of God’s mighty deeds, and we may be sure that this
awesome deed was done with a perfection possible only to the Infinite. ”Without
controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.
Atonement too was accomplished with the same flawless skill that marks all of
God’s acts. However little we understand it all, we know that Christ’s expiatory
work perfectly reconciled God and men and opened the kingdom of heaven to all
believers. Our concern is not to explain but to proclaim. Indeed I wonder
whether God could make us understand all that happened there at the cross.
According to the apostle Peter not even angels know, however eagerly they may
desire to look into these things.
The operation of the gospel, the new birth, the coming of the divine Spirit into
human nature, the ultimate overthrow of evil, and the final establishment of
Christ’s righteous kingdom - all these have flowed and do flow out of God’s
infinite fullness of wisdom. The sharpest eyes of the honest watcher in the
blest company above cannot discover a flaw in the ways of God in bringing all
this to fruition, nor can the pooled wisdom of seraphim and cherubim suggest how
an improvement might be made in the divine procedure. ”I know that, whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken
from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.”
It is vitally important that we hold the truth of God’s infinite wisdom as a
tenet of our creed; but this is not enough. We must by the exercise of faith and
by prayer bring it into the practical world of our day-by-day experience.
To believe actively that our Heavenly Father constantly spreads around us
providential circumstances that work for our present good and our everlasting
well-being brings to the soul a veritable benediction. Most of us go through
life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for position, hoping but
never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will
miss the way. This is a tragic waste of truth and never gives rest to the heart.
There is a better way. It is to repudiate our own wisdom and take instead the
infinite wisdom of God. Our insistence upon seeing ahead is natural enough, but
it is a real hindrance to our spiritual progress. God has charged himself with
full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to take over the
management of our lives the moment we turn in faith to Him.
Here is His promise: ”And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I
will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light
before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and
not forsake them.”
Let Him lead the blindfold onwards,
Love needs not to know;
Children whom the Father leadeth
Ask not where they go.
Though the path be all unknown,
Over moors and mountains lone.
Gerhard Teersteegen
God constantly encourages us to trust Him in the dark. I will go before thee,
and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of
darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the
Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”
It is heartening to learn how many of God’s mighty deeds were done in secret,
away from the prying eyes of men or angles.
When God created the heavens and the earth, darkness was upon the face of the
deep. When the Eternal Son became flesh, He was carried for a time in the
darkness of the sweet virgin’s womb. When He died for the life of the world, it
was in the darkness, seen by no one at the last. When He arose from the dead, it
was ,’very early in the morning.” No one saw Him rise. It is as if God were
saying, ”What I am is all that need matter to you, for there lie your hope and
your peace. I will do what I will do, and it will all come to light at last, but
how I do it is My secret. Trust Me, and be not afraid.”
With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to
plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? Surely we are the
most favored of all creatures.
In all our Maker’s grand designs,
Omnipotence, with wisdom, shines;
His works, through all this wondrous frame,
Declare the glory of His Name.
Thomas Blacklock