O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
— Romans 11:33-12:2
Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Who knows the full extent of what God’s plans are?
Paul has talked about this before. In 1 Corinthians 2:16, Paul says, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
In Romans 11, Paul is emphasizing how unsearchable are His ways. We cannot know the mind of the Lord, BUT we can HAVE the mind of the Lord. There is a difference. Scientists boast of how large a capacity our brains can handle. They have estimated our brain to hold any where from 10 to 100 terabytes of information. Even so, there is still a limit to our natural minds. The mind of the Lord is LIMITLESS. The Psalmist says, “Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5). We CANNOT KNOW the mind of the Lord, but by the GRACE of God we have access to it.
Paul says in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
1 Peter 4:1 says “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE with the same MIND.”
Think about this! In our passage in Romans, Paul talks about the depth of the riches of both His wisdom and knowledge. He then talks about how his judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out. This is all completely true. His ways ARE past finding out… BUT you CAN STILL KNOW THEM. God defies paradoxes. He can heal the incurable, save the unsaveable, and wash the unwashable, and love the unlovable! Likewise, when we arm ourselves with the mind of Christ, we can know his ways. We are even commanded to do so (Ephesians 5:17)! What grace to provide us with the privilege of knowing His ways! What love for Him to desire us to know His ways! What mercy that He did not leave us in the darkness of ignorance!
Do you want this mind? It’s there for you to have!