He is Unsearchable

He is unsearchable.

Romans 11:33
³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out! (NIV)

There is a word in theology that stresses a definition of God based on what we know God is not more than what we know God to be. It is called apophatic theology. Apophatic theology reasons that even our greatest human minds cannot conceive the nature of God, His wisdom, and His perfection. To imagine what God is or who He is will never be enough because the human mind is too small to conceive thoughts so great. The Bible says it like this: His ways are higher than ours. He is unsearchable.

I can say God is love, but the essence of the agape love of God is beyond human comprehension. We can do our best, but even the greatest description is bleak. To know God loves me is a wonderful truth, but we must also remember that our definition of love that we apply to God can never match the true glory that it is.

Whatever plans you imagine God has for you, there is so much more than exceeds your greatest imagination. How you imagine God to love you will never come close to how He actually loves you. The forgiveness He has given to you will never feel to us as grand as it actually is.

We might ask why this is this kind of theology good? To fully grasp this notion that God is too wonderful for our thoughts keeps us seeking Him and trusting Him. We tend to lean on our own understanding, but to know that I cannot wrap my head around the immensity of God’s wisdom should lead me to trust God more. I am reminded that even on my best day, I am like a cricket trying to understand Einstein. Even this analogy doesn’t give enough contrast. To know His ways are so far above my understanding should lead me to trust Him in obedience.

Also, Scripture teaches us that God has given us the Spirit so that we might have the mind of Christ. Never fully, corrupted by sin, yet an increased capacity to know Him. If His love is greater than I can imagine, yet knowing He wants me to know Him more, should move me to an intentional pursuit of God so that I might know more of Him and experience greater glory of Him.

Prayer: Lord, help me to trust You more than me and let me seek You more that I might know You more intimately. Amen.