Impossible To Understand

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! Romans 11:33

INTERESTINGLY, in Paul’s great letter to the Romans, after explaining so much about God’s plan and purposes, Paul himself admits that it is impossible for us to understand all of God’s decisions and ways. He says that God’s judgments, or decrees, cannot be searched to the bottom and that his paths cannot be followed to the end. We will never completely comprehend all he is doing, nor will we ever come to full clarity about why.

It’s not that we can never expect to know anything about God’s ways. But we can only understand what is revealed to us. And as much as God has made known to us, he has not divulged everything, particularly the detailed explanations and answers to all of our “why” questions. While he knows the path that lies ahead for us and for our children, we don’t. He calls us to live by faith in his sovereign and loving purposes. He asks us to trust him with what is beyond our ability to understand.

God has gone ahead of us, cutting a path for human history and for our lives. And his ways are beyond our tracing out —we cannot fully grasp exactly why he has ordained that the world and our lives are taking a particular course.

What path is God taking you or your child down that is inscrutable —impossible to understand or accept as the intended route for your lives? God knows what he is doing. His depths of knowledge, wisdom, and mercy are unfathomably deep, so we can trust him even when we find his ways inscrutable. We might not know what he’s doing, but we can be sure that he does.

Lord, I want to stop insisting that I must understand everything you’re doing in our lives before I am willing to accept it. Forgive me for foolishly thinking that my plans would be better than yours. Forgive me for arrogantly thinking I know more than you about the solutions to my problems. I might not understand your decisions, but I want to accept them. And I might not be able to trace your ways, but I want to go, and I want ________ to go, wherever you lead.