God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend. (Job 37:5)How appropriate! "He does great things that we cannot comprehend."
It stands to reason, of course. He is God; we are not. He does as He pleases; we don't. His ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa 55:8-9). If God is infinite and we are finite, it is obvious that we cannot fully grasp God. By definition. So it is only reasonable that God would be doing great things that we cannot comprehend.
Do we actually believe that? I ask because it seems like we often think that if we don't comprehend it He's not doing it. Something unpleasant happens and we tend to cry, "Why, God?" Well, didn't we just agree that "He does great things that we cannot comprehend"? Something painful, something confusing, something strange, something outside our comfort zone comes around and we're not happy about this. Something is wrong! Or ... "He does great things that we cannot comprehend." When Joseph encountered those kinds of things -- evil things, in fact -- his conclusion was, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Gen 50:20). Remember, Joseph was attacked by his brothers, stuck in a well, sold into slavery, falsely accused by his master's wife, jailed for a crime he didn't commit, forgotten in prison ... "unpleasant" doesn't seem to cover it. When do you think it occurred to Joseph what God was doing? Scripture doesn't say, but the point of the Job verse is it doesn't matter. If Joseph didn't figure it out until his brothers asked for forgiveness, God was still doing great things. And we cannot comprehend.
A good question we like to ask is, "What is God doing in your life?" Good question. And sometimes we have answers. Good stuff. But rest assured there will be times that we don't know. We don't grasp. We don't comprehend. We may not even be aware. So know this: God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28). That purpose is sometimes individual and personal, but there is an overarching purpose of which you can be confident. "Those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom 8:29). That's really good. The verse says, "He does great things that we cannot comprehend." Trust that. Trust Him. It might be a bumpy ride at times, but it will always be for good things, even when we don't understand.
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