The only relief from this stark understanding is
to factor in another attribute of God—that of being all knowing. “For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8,9 NIV). In other words, as far as the action or
inaction of God is concerned, from the point of view of man much is destined to
remain a mystery.
To illustrate this we can look at how man
typically constructs a canal—as straight as humanly possible. This can be contrasted with natural rivers
which are often meandering and indirect.
Man seeks the most direct way, God characteristically does not. This can also be seen in the way that wisdom is
typically attained through arduous learning and experience (often after much
hardship and suffering). We can be
resentful that wisdom comes at so great a cost—why couldn’t we just be born
with it? In his wisdom God assigns a more circuitous and perplexing route.
It can be seen that power—even infinite power—has its
inherent and inescapable limitations due to the principle of counterproductivity active within creation. (An excessive
application of power can have diminishing returns and ultimately do more harm
than good.) God must deal with this paradox of power and
his wisdom in doing so extends well beyond human understanding. Our God, unlike Zeus, does not eradicate
every problem with a bolt from the blue.
It takes wisdom to exercise power and infinite wisdom to exercise infinite
power. Thus, the appropriate stance of humanity
before the wisdom of God is humility and worship.
