Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways! Rom 11:33
The other day I texted a young woman who was dealing with a painful issue. We were speaking about it the day before with one another, but were not able to finish our conversation. The next morning the Lord gave me a nudge to share something with her so I did. Here’s what I texted to her. “The process of God’s work in our lives often comes in ways that we don’t expect. Sometimes He answers our most cherished prayers and what a joy that is! However, more often His workings may seem so opposite to our human understanding and yes even painful, but the scope of His wisdom has a greater more infinite design than ours. This takes a lifetime to discover and I’m still learning.” I added mushy sentiments at the end of the text but I’ll spare you of that.
I think if we were to gather a handful of believers and ask them to define “blessings” there might be some similar responses. Salvation, forgiveness, good health, adequate income, happy healthy relationships, and perhaps being part of a great church would be in the category of blessings. These are without a doubt, blessings to be thankful for. But what about the circumstances that pose a less obvious or logical idea of God’s blessing? How do we respond when it seems as though the Lord is pulling the rug out from under our beliefs about His love and goodness?
Rom 11:33 is the apostle Paul’s way of saying, “Look at God’s plan of salvation. For the Jewish nation as well as the Gentiles, God’s redemptive love is at work weaving His purposes through what appears to be a process that makes no sense. It’s utterly beyond our ability to fathom why He would choose to go about demonstrating His grace and mercy in this way. But He did, and look at the glorious outcome for all of us.”
If this is the process by which our Heavenly Father has secured our salvation, what does that say about our sanctification? Being saved was in order that we also be set apart to be a people for His own possession. This doesn’t happen in a moment, or at a conference, or even a crisis. It’s a lifetime of moments, circumstances, songs and sorrows. This will require an ongoing and unrelenting renewal of surrender to His sovereign wisdom. This begs the question, “am I making this amazing salvation life about me, or Him?”
A verse that I have gone back to again and again is Eph 1:11. So often I need to be reminded that God is working all things after the counsel of His will. God had so much more in store than just saving me from eternal separation from Him. My whole life, the tears and the triumphs are mashing together in the hands of my Savior. The outcome I can only hope will result to the praise of His glorious grace.
So what do blessings look like? Everything, though not always asked for, God is permitting in His rich and unsearchable wisdom, to see Christ in us the hope of glory.
