Knowing God by J. I. Packer - ”God Only Wise” (Chapter 9)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer
"God Only Wise" Chapter 9

• What does the Bible mean when it calls God wise?
• Wisdom is a moral as well as an intellectual quality, more than mere intelligence or knowledge.

“Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.” – J. I. Packer

• Wisdom is the practical side of moral goodness.
• Wisdom is found in its fullness only in God.
• Wisdom is his essence, as are his other attributes, integral to his character.

Wisdom: Ours and God’s

• Human wisdom can be frustrated by circumstances outside our control.
• But God’s wisdom cannot be frustrated because it is allied with his omnipotence.

“Power is as much God’s essence as wisdom is. Omniscience governing omnipotence, infinite power ruled by infinite wisdom, is a basic biblical description of the divine character.” – J. I. Packer

“Wisdom without power would be pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and endless power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust.” – J. I. Packer

• God’s almighty wisdom is always active, and never fails.
• But we cannot recognize God’s wisdom unless we know the end for which he is working.
• God’s wisdom is not, and never was, pledged to keep a fallen world happy, or to make ungodliness comfortable.
• What is he after, then? What is his goal?
  
  • To love and honor him
  • To praise him for his wonderful works in creation
  • To use his creation according to his will
  • To enjoy both his creation and him

“And though we have fallen, God has not abandoned his first purpose. Still he plans that a great host of humankind should come to love and honor him. His ultimate objective is to bring them to a state in which they please him entirely and praise him adequately, a state in which he is all in all to them, and he and they rejoice continually in the knowledge of each other’s love—people rejoicing in the saving love of God, set upon them from all eternity, and God rejoicing in the responsive love of people, drawn out of them by grace through the gospel.” – J. I. Packer

• This ultimate purpose will only be realized in the next world, in the new heavens and new earth.
• Meanwhile, God is drawing individual men and women into a relationship of faith, hope, and love toward himself, delivering them from sin and showing forth in their lives the power of his grace.

God Dealing with His People

• No clearer illustrations of the wisdom of God ordering human lives can be found than in some of the scriptural narratives.
  
  • Abraham
    
    • What Abraham needed most of all was to learn the practice of living in God’s presence, seeing all life in relation to him, and looking to him, and him alone, as Commander, Defender and Rewarder.
  • Jacob
    
    • Jacob’s whole attitude to life was ungodly and needed changing; Jacob must be weaned away from trust in his own cleverness to dependence upon God, and he must be made to abhor the unscrupulous double-dealing which came so naturally to him.
    • Jacob must be made to feel his own utter weakness and foolishness, must be brought to such complete self-distrust that he would no longer try to get on by exploiting others. Jacob’s self-reliance must go, once and for all.
  • Joseph
    
    • Joseph was being tested, refined and matured; he was being taught during his spell as a slave, and in prison, to stay himself upon God, to remain cheerful and charitable in frustrating circumstances, and to wait patiently for the Lord.

“Once again, we are confronted with the wisdom of God ordering the events of a human life for a double purpose: the individual’s own personal sanctification, and the fulfilling of his appointed ministry and service in the life of the people of God.” – J. I. Packer

Our Perplexing Trials

• We should not, therefore, be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now.
  
  • What do they mean?
  • Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and he is dealing with us accordingly.

“Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself in conscious communion with him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest.” – J. I. Packer

“We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what he is doing, and what he is after, in his handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, he is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here.” – J. I. Packer

• How are we to meet these baffling and trying situations, if we cannot for the moment see God’s purpose in them?
  
  • Receive them as from a wise and loving God.
  • Ask ourselves what response to them the gospel requires of us.
  • Seek God’s face specifically about them.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9)

“because of these surprisingly great revelations… in order to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Cor. 12:7)

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor. 12:9)

“Whatever further purpose a Christian’s troubles may or may not have in equipping him for future service, …they will have been sent us to make and keep us humble, and to give us a new opportunity of showing forth the power of Christ in our mortal lives. And do we ever need to know any more about them than that?” – J. I. Packer