Soli Deo Gloria: For the Glory of God Alone

The Messenger, June 23, 2011
God Only Wise

By WALLY BUMPAS
Special to The Messenger
 What does the Bible mean when it says that God is wise? This question becomes more interesting in light of Romans 16:27 which refers to “God only wise,” as if to say that God is the only being in the universe who is truly wise. How can that be?
Let’s define wisdom as the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, along with the best way of reaching it. Wisdom in the Bible is practical. It’s not just being smart. It’s knowing the best thing to do and the best way to do it. Put like that, the wisest of wise men get their wisdom frustrated regularly. That’s because there will always be circumstantial factors outside the wise man’s control.
But if God is God, then there will be no such limitations hindering Him. Unlike our wisdom, God’s wisdom is wedded together with omnipotence, the ability to do all He pleases. In God, infinite power is allied with perfect wisdom. Wisdom without power is weak and pathetic. Power without wisdom is frightening and sends everyone running for cover. In God, wisdom and power are perfectly united. This makes Him utterly worthy of our worship and trust. Though we are certainly called upon to live lives of wisdom (see the book of Proverbs), it can still be said that God is “God only wise.”
The only way to recognize God’s wisdom at work in the world is to know the end or goal toward which He is working. Here is where we tend to go wrong. Many want to think that God’s purpose is to make them “happy” and solve their problems. (Isn’t He wise enough to know how to do that?) So when life blows up in their face, such persons are inclined to think that God’s wisdom, or power, or both, have broken down, or that maybe there is no God after all. The problem here is that God’s wisdom is not, and never was, pledged to keep a fallen world happy. He has bigger ends in view.
What if God’s goal is to gather a people for Himself, through the telling of the good news of what Jesus has done, and then to progressively shape the character of those people so that they look and act and think more and more like Jesus? What if His goal is that we reflect His glory? And what if this glory will not be fully achieved until there is a great multitude of redeemed humanity, pressure washed, sand blasted and chiseled into the beautiful likeness of Christ (but glad for it afterward)? This is, in fact, the end toward which God works, as the Bible testifies from front to back.
The hard part is that it will often feel like God is killing us, when in fact He is rescuing us, much like a man might feel who is undergoing life-saving surgery, but with no anesthesia or even a rag to bite. At such times we can only fall back on the wisdom of God. Always, and in everything He does, He is wise. This is true even when He leaves us in the dark (for now).
It was pitch-black dark as Jesus suffered unspeakable agonies on the cross. It easily looked like the saddest and most senseless thing that ever happened. But according to Paul in I Corinthians 1, it was the supreme display of “God only wise,” accomplishing His purpose. May God grace our eyes to see.     
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Editor’s note: Wally Bumpas serves as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Dyersburg.

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