“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 counsellor?” “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.NIV.

In some churches these verses are used as a Doxology, a kind of final loving, praise-filled moment before we go back to our real lives … out there. At the time when it is sung or spoken, people are usually picking up their stuff ready to go home etc. This one is in Romans 11, it isn’t a hello or a goodbye, Paul is simply overcome by what God has done for all of us. What a wonderful thought! My premise today is this – is it only there to be a thought, or does it have something more to offer us?

So I have put these few verses here in three different versions to expand it’s language. When I get stuck on something, I have a tendency to go away and look it up. That is so much easier than it used to be. I use the computer! Years ago, I used to sit with my bible and a concordance, so I could clarify what the bible was actually saying, while I was reading it. A concordance is “a specialised tool used in biblical studies to find every verse where a specific word or theme appears.”

But sadly that very helpful reference book had its limits. For instance, the word LET didn’t appear in it, because it is in the bible a lot, and it is probably regarded as too repetitive, and a minor word. But it is a major word spiritually speaking. Every word in the bible is there for our benefit. Reading all of it, is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to speak to us – He helps and teaches us, individually. This is a very personal, intimate thing between Him and us.

Back to Romans 11 – here’s the Living bible version: “Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are His wisdom and knowledge and riches! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His methods! For who among us can know the mind of the Lord? Who knows enough to be His counsellor and guide? And who could ever offer to the Lord enough to induce Him to act? For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by His power, and everything is for His glory. To Him be glory evermore.” Amen to that too!

Verses like this one are really quite magnificent. Whenever we look at these outbursts of praise we have an opportunity to pause and join in! It can be so helpful to deliberately read the introduction to this book or that book in the bible — those things are usually an explanation of who wrote it etc. and the point the author wants to make. It’s easy to just overlook them because they do not seem to be relevant to what we consider the main meal – the teaching. It is kind of an appetiser, but not enough to fill us up.

Lastly, I’ve included the Message bible. “Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell Him what to do? Anyone who has done Him such a huge favour that God has to ask his advice? Everything comes from Him;  Everything happens through Him;  Everything ends up in Him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes.” That yes, yes, yes means Amen!

If we treat this hello or goodbye, or even an outbreak of praise, as having no real value, just something the writer felt at the time, we are doing it a grave disservice. This is actually a declaration of faith that we, as the readers can cling to or stand on, despite our circumstances. Let’s not rush by the author’s worship of God in these moments of their letters. Instead, we need to allow those thoughts to refresh us.

What the author of the book is saying is that there is nobody else like God Himself. We can’t explain Him, nor do we often understand the real meaning behind what He does. That’s not a bad thing to think on – it was relevant to me, this morning! I don’t want to spend the rest of today’s blog expounding this and that about Romans 11:33-36 because my actual point is about our attitude when we read things like this. These things are there to give us an opportunity to praise the Lord for no other reason than the fact that He is worthy!

The New Testament is written in a different fashion to the Old. The Old is filled with carefully documented historical stories, Psalms and wisdom. The New was being written as the people writing it were living it out. This was fresh manna from heaven for hearts like ours who need to know Who to follow and how. Those things that they wrote about were the things they knew, or were learning and experiencing for themselves. We get a glimpse into these men’s hearts. Their lives were often fraught with danger, yet praising God never stopped being a priority.

After Jesus came to live among us, the Gospels were a record of what He did, said, and taught. Plus one book is devoted to the incredible ‘ACTS’ of the Holy Spirit. The Lord can teach us so many things from the Old Testament, and He does;  but the New highlights how our new life in Christ works. It has passionate praise and greetings to the saints of one church or another, because they were writing personal letters, from the writer’s heart to theirs.

Even the times of praise, plus the ‘hellos’ and ‘goodbyes’ mean something in God’s  book. I want to encourage you not to skip them, you might learn something. Bye.👋