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He Blesses Anyway


Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

          When I think about God, certain ideas come to mind automatically: omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, transcendence, and love. Wisdom doesn’t come to mind quite as automatically. Part of the reason for this is that, like most people, I tend to think of wisdom from my own perspective. If God does what I want Him to, of course He’s wise! When He does something I don’t want Him to, well… He just doesn’t understand. When He does something I don’t think makes sense, I find myself thinking that if He’d just listen to me, things would be so much better.
       And yet, when I stop with my endless yammering of my own wisdom, I have to join Paul in his amazement with God. So many of the things that I thought hard and harsh have proven to be the best things in my life, while the things I thought would be blessings have turned into trials. There is so much that I don’t see and don’t understand. And time and again, He blesses anyway.

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