We're wired to scrutinize and search God's ways

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110419.cfm
Romans 11:29-36
Luke 14:12-14

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
(Romans 11:33)

If you’ve ever wondered what makes us different from God, right there in Romans is your answer. That verse we hear above, from Paul, tells the tale. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” Those three things — riches, wisdom, and knowledge — make God’s judgments and his ways inscrutable and unsearchable. We can't really figure out how God does what he does, but we can know who he is.

Paul quotes Isaiah in the next two verses to cite his source for riches, wisdom and knowledge as the reason for God's mysterious behavior.

For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given him anything
that he may be repaid?
(Romans 11:34-35)

First, Isaiah says God has his own mind. He is more intelligent than anything in existence. No one can fully map or strategically predict his thinking process. God has the deepest of knowledge. He has, in fact, all knowledge.

Second, God has no counselor. He needs no moral or behavioral correction or adjustment. He’s already perfect in every way. God has wisdom, the deepest sort of wisdom. God is wisdom and truth itself.

Third, God cannot be compensated for a transgression against him. Isaiah says we cannot payback God with anything that will set everything back in order — everything that we broke. Only God can set everything back in order. This tells us that God has riches. Inestimable piles and piles of riches of every sort. He can restore and rebuild everything.

Now, of course, those three characteristics of God can be easily misinterpreted. Some of us are doing it in our heads right now. We hear about God as perfect, and somehow we kind of twist it all over the place. That's because we struggle with God's judgment and thinking. We fail in perfection that only he holds, and we fail to grasp his perfect mercy as the bedrock of his judgment.

For instance. We can decide that God is unknowable because we can’t know his mind. We figure that we should just give up on someone so intelligent and calculating. He’s exhausting.

Second, we can consider that because God has no counselor he won’t listen to us. Everything is happening without our input, and we’re better off to just get out of the way.

And third, since we cannot pay him back for anything he’s done for us, then we don’t owe him anything. He’s complete, so it’s no skin off his nose. We’ll break things and he’ll fix them later.

How do we come up with calculations like that? It’s almost as if we confuse ourselves on purpose. I think we do this because when we talk “about” God we slip away from fully believing that God can be like that — our creator, full of mercy, and deep in riches, deep in knowledge, and deep in wisdom. We’re not like that — so perfect. He’s, therefore, unfamiliar to us.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

We constantly review the things of God in order to believe them. We want to believe. We want to listen to God and not our own views. So, we compare what we know against what God tells us. Even though God’s judgments are inscrutable, and impossible to analyze fully, we’re wired to scrutinize. Even though his ways are unsearchable, we’re driven with unwavering desire to discover what he’s up to.

God made us like that. There’s no other answer. This is a conundrum. He’s beyond us. We want to know him. We suffer from continual failure. God is ever merciful.

What’s the helpful key to doing analysis and searches? What does Paul provide as the methodology? I believe it’s our relationship to God, not just our study of him. It’s also God’s actual response to us. Paul talks directly to God, even as he talks about him. Here is a paraphrase of talking to God, rather than just about God:

"Isaiah says that your mind, God, has all knowledge. It is perfect and complete. Your knowledge, then, is infinite. We’ll never have all the knowledge, but you want us to know what you know. Many times in scripture you tell us to ask you for knowledge. I’m thinking that means you didn’t make us because you were running a grand experiment with creation. There was nothing here for you to discover. You created us not because you needed us, but because you wanted us. You want us to discover. Making us meant you allow us to exist, which means you allow us to be more knowledgeable. You’re a sharer. Our curiosity is a purposeful part of your design. You can’t be curious, because you already know everything. So, apparently, our curiosity helps drive us closer to you, and what you know. You tell us you are involve in us for intimacy, for friendship, and for love."

God's friendship, intimacy and lover for us is a risky endeavor. We’ll use the knowledge he shares with us improperly simply because we require experimentation. We’ll fail, and fail, and fail again as we learn. God knows that about us. When we discover something, God already knew that something. We have to learn in order to know.

"We must, surely, keep on learning to know you more. So, we’ll keep on failing. Your patience and transparency are certainly amazing. Help me to understand that, and know your patience with everyone who fails just like I do. Help me to be transparent, sharing knowledge with the awareness that failures loom large."

After telling us about God's character and his unrelenting mercy, Paul acclaims, “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Apparently, grasping knowledge about God, and God’s creation, ends up in worship.

"You are amazing, God. And in prayer, for I ask you to help me. Amen!"

Paul tells us that God needs no counselor because he has perfect wisdom. When we question God’s behavior, we foolishly think he could have done a better job at interceding, at creating us, and at allowing us to fail. Paul also tells us that God’s riches supersede all concept of riches. His riches can’t be improved, or added to. There’s so much to learn about God.

Paul precedes this doxology about God’s riches, wisdom and knowledge by telling us what God’s mercy means. Our failures require constant forgiveness. God’s reaction to our failures is mercy. Just like infinite knowledge, God has infinite mercy.

This mercy reveals why we are allowed to fail. Paul explains that our failures aren’t the only problem of our curiosity and desire to search. There is also our disobedience at the heart of our failure. Both our failures and disobedience go beyond just us. It’s not a personal thing. It’s a communal thing.

When I disobey, God is merciful. When any of you disobey, God is merciful. The mercy God shows me is visible to you. The mercy God shows you is visible to me. In effect, God has delivered us all to disobedience, because God allows us all to fail. In our failures, we are surely disobedient. We fail in order to receive mercy and know God. “For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.”

Our praise and our prayers to God form us into conversation with him. This is not just a personal conversation, but a communal one.

God’s mercy, especially shown in visible ways in our community of faith, draws us back to praise and prayer. It’s a continual cycle of growth through failure and God’s mercy. It’s a continuing cycle of knowledge of God’s creation, him sharing with us and us sharing with each other.

For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever. Amen.
(Romans 11:36)