Romans 11:33, “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!”
I will never understand God, but I can forever be in awe and wonder of him. His thoughts are above my thoughts and his ways are higher than my ways. His plan is always better than my plan and his path to get there is always best. I’ve decided to live my life in surrender to it, even when I don’t understand it. I choose to set my mind to anticipate absolute greatness to unfold. Why? Because my God is GREAT!
In Hebrew the original text was the bathos, meaning the DEPTH of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge. Not just great, but deep. When it’s deep, it means there’s more than you can see and more than you can touch. When the ocean is bathos, it is deep, you can’t reach the bottom and the treasures beneath are unknown. And the things of God are so deep we will never get to the bottom of them.
God is literally at the bottom of everything. Dig a little and you’ll find God. Keep digging and you’ll find more and more of God. He is the foundation and the source. All that is is only because of Him. The little he has revealed to us is only a hint of all there really is. Romans 11:36, “For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory.” Think about that for a moment. Everything comes from God, it exists by his power, and it is intended for his glory.
That includes YOU. Here’s your life’s absolute truth. You come from God, you exist by his power, and you are intended for his glory. If you feel like you’ve lost who you are and what your purpose is in this life, well whoop there it is! You, my dear friend, you come from God. He personally dreamed of you, designed you and formed you because he wanted you. You are alive today, breathing today, existing only by his power. His power literally lives in you and flows through you. And the intentions for your life are to bring him glory. That’s right, you’re supposed to make it about him, not make it about you. He’s the one you point to. He’s the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. If there’s anything good in you, it’s God in you! GLORY TO GOD!
So, Paul reminds us of 3 things of God’s that are so deep that they’re immeasurable: God’s riches, God’s wisdom and God’s knowledge.
God is rich. No, for real, he is, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. God’s not ashamed of his riches. Deuteronomy 11:14, “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God.” It’s ALL God’s. Every bit of it belongs to him. We squabble and fight and get protective over what we believe to be ours, but honey just because your name is on the title doesn’t make it all yours – that was God’s first!
A few years ago I was riding my little turquoise bicycle along Highway 1 in the Florida Keys, and I came upon a beautiful private beach resort set behind a large security gate and trees. Lining the drive were statues of Buddha. Buddha is not God. Buddha is an idol some use to replace our God who owns everything. That’s not Buddha’s beach, that’s God’s beach. As I rode by, God so clearly stirred my spirit and said, “That is my land, would you better glorify me with it?”
Now I know that sounds crazy because first, that resort isn’t for sale, and even if it were, the truth is I can’t afford to buy a trailer house on those 6 acres of beachfront property, let alone a resort with a grand lodge and 6 bungalows. But each time I pass it, I hear God say, “That’s mine, I want to be glorified better there.” Largo Resort – God wants it back. It’s his. Jesus, not Buddha.