A Thanksgiving Doxology

Romans 11:33-36 NKJV

The minister’s little son, George, had just been given an orange. Trying to teach George the finer art of politeness and thankfulness, his mother said, “What do you say, George?”

Little George lifted the orange back toward his kind benefactor a directive, “Peel it!”

All too frequently, I meet God’s grace and mercy with a directive. I find myself ordering God. My sentiment is, “No, Your gift is not enough. I need more.” Thanksgiving season redirects my awareness.

St. Paul has just concluded a beautiful section of Romans that focuses on the mercy and judgment of God. Paul then moves to a doxology of praise to God for his justice and mercy. He redirects my awareness with a challenge to praise God by demonstrating that God is worthy of glory, praise, and thanksgiving, and encourages us that we should extend it to Him forever.

“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 NKJV).

The riches of God’s wisdom merit praise. I struggle weighing my options. I deliberate, seek counsel, pray, and take time in a quest to make wise decisions. Not so with God. He abounds in wisdom. King Solomon understood that God’s gift of wisdom to him was better than many riches.

Our knowledge is finite and limited. Every time I take a test, or administer a test in our classrooms, I am reminded how finite our knowledge is. Nevertheless, human knowledge is increasing at a rapidly alarming rate. The abundance of information available in our information age makes it impossible for a human can stay abreast of all of it. Nevertheless, there is an end to human knowledge. Not so with God. God’s knowledge is infinite and cannot be measured. God’s knowledge is absolute and can withstand our questions. God really knows it all.

God’s knowledge is rich with infinity. God knows perfectly and infinitely. He is absolute in His knowledge and perfection. He knows all: the past, present, and future. He sees all: the hidden and the obvious. He is absolute in His foreknowledge. He knows what will happen before it happens, and He’s ready for it. While I often feel unprepared for the unexpected, God is never taken by surprise.

Because His judgments are unsearchable, I will never thoroughly comprehend Him. One of the joys of reading through the Bible annually is the fresh insights into the eternal truth of God’s Word. God is infinite. God cannot be “Googled.” No search engine has been or ever will be designed that can search His mind, His heart, His wisdom, or His knowledge.

I often the question the judgments of judges and courts in our land. The appeals process is built into the legal system for just that purpose. Since DNA testing has been developed, convicted murderers have had their convictions revoked and have been set free. It’s all because we know that judges and courts are fallible.

The Bible says that God’s judgments are unsearchable. We cannot understand or explain God’s judgments, but we know they are true and definite. We may question them, but our questions appear finite and foolish in the face of His infinite greatness. We are limited by His gifts of time and space. God is not limited by either. He lives in an eternal now wherein He understands the complexity of linearity, cause and effect, and the order of things.

God is above and beyond our ability to understand. Humans struggle to rationalize God. We try to understand who God is, His motivation, His nature, and His activity in our lives, and we call it theology. We try to comprehend His creative power in the natural world all around us and we call it science. We try to understand the power of life which God created in the cell, and we call it biology. We try to understand the vastness of the universe with all of its galaxies, stars, planets, and asteroids, spinning through space with order and precision, and we call it astronomy. We try to comprehend the human body’s complexities in order to provide healing and extend life, and we call it medicine. Humans have harnessed the power of electricity, split the atom, and created countless inventions to ease our lives, but we still cannot know God’s mind. All our efforts to understand the creative power of God’s mind seem to fall so short. In our finiteness, we cannot understand Infinity.

God is the Standard. He is Absolute. He is Truth. He is Right. No one advises God. God must consult no one. He has no peer. He has no equal. We can debate about God. We can contend for our theory of creation. We can discuss deep theological matters. We can even discuss His Holy Word, the Sacred Scriptures.

In the Old Testament, the faithful made sacrifice to Him. We can worship Him. We can bring gifts to Him. But we will never add to God. He is all-sufficient, in and of Himself. He never lacks. We will not impoverish God through withholding ourselves from Him. We will not enrich Him by anything we give Him. He is not selfish in asking us to surrender our lives and will to Him, because even our lives do not add to Him. He is all-sufficient. In the Old-Testament, He said, “I AM.”

God owes no one anything, and is never in debt to anyone (Job 21:11). Sometimes in our frustration, we want to bribe God to do us a favor, or extend us a kindness. We say, “Lord, I have done all these things for you, now, I need something.” In essence, we are saying, “You owe me.” No, he doesn’t. He owes us nothing. He is All-Sufficient, never in debt, and never obligated. He is All-Sufficient.

God is worthy of glory and praise, and we should extend it to Him forever.

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)