“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?’ ‘Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him?’ For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33-36).
God’s worthiness and praiseworthiness reached another crescendo in human history when the gospel of Christ began offering salvation to sinners. What a treasure chest of God’s wisdom and knowledge was opened fifty days after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (see Acts 2).
Paul’s quotations of Isaiah 40:13 in verse 34 above and of Job 41:11 in verse 35 remind one and all that God’s worthiness and praiseworthiness are ancient and unending truths about the great I AM.
As Isaiah contemplated the immensity of God in comparison to His stunning creation—“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? (Isaiah 40:12)—he was profoundly impressed with Jehovah’s worthiness and praiseworthiness.
Centuries earlier, Job had a similar encounter with God’s preeminence. Jehovah’s creation of the mighty Behemoth and the invincible Leviathan had demonstrated His extreme superiority to Job. The questioning patriarch, who had foolishly treated God as if they were equals, had learned an immensely important lesson: God owes no man anything. No one has first given to God and now has God in his debt.
Jehovah’s wisdom ways are vastly superior to any human’s. God’s foolishness is wiser than men, and His weakness is stronger than men.
Therefore, praise God from whom all blessings flow.
