-------
THE BOTTOM LINE
Mark LaCour
"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" (Rom. 11:33).
Plummeting the depths of God's wisdom is majestic and futile -- necessary for worship; useless in finding a bottom. Its simplicity and symmetry invigorates the mind, strengthens faith (Jam. 1:4). Its complexity empties every philosophy and pushes the borders of sanity. A few observations from the bathysphere:
First, knowing the "what" about God is a gift. No scholarships are needed but no one gets into this university without an invitation (Matt. 11:25-27). Even then, you learn at the teacher's pace, not the student's. While all men know enough to flunk out, no one has enough to graduate. If behavior determines grade level (Dan.11:32), avoid anyone who invents his own divine syllabus. God isn't found at the end of cold, steel syllogisms; nice, warm euphoric mysticisms, or even torments of fire in eternity. He's found at the end of his own invite. If God doesn't reveal, there's nothing to know or believe.
Descending past the mesopelagic zone, knowing the "why" about God is dangerous. While necessary for growth, it's lethal if taken without a prescription. Hell is full of pundits who either never connected the obvious dots (Rom. 1:19-21), or connected them wrongly (Rom. 10:3-4). If the smartest man in the world couldn't get it right with God-given wisdom (Eccl. 1:12-14), tread lightly. Let God -- and only God in the Bible tell us why He does what He does. A God who decrees what He doesn't desire (Acts 2:22-23), and yet desires what He doesn't decree (1 Tim. 2:3-4), in order to bring all of history to its decreed and desired end (Eph. 1:11), is beyond our hat-sized brains. Learn the genius of saying "I don’t know" to itching ears when asked to speculate about God's motives and reasons.
Lastly, submerging to where the cable ends, knowing the "who" about God is salvation. "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (Jn. 17:3). While some descend only enough to hate Him (Matt. 25:24), His elect must go to the cavernous end where there’s not greater darkness or pressure, but light and rest in Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:27; Col. 2:3).
How God reasons caused the apostle to worship -- not because it was irrational or trans-rational, but because it showcases God's glory the best and only way possible, in the person of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6) -- someone a child can understand but a bathysphere can't reach.
-------
