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The Attributes of God | Week 48: Unsearchable

We should stand in the presence of the unsearchable God with much reverence. But at the same time, we can leave things in His hands with much confidence in His trustworthiness.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
- Isaiah 40:28


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Transcript: Hi, welcome to Five Minutes With Pastor Lutzer. I’m so glad that you have joined me again as we continue our study of the attributes of God. And of course, as we study God, our minds are expanded; and today’s study is actually on the unsearchability of God.

And I need to say that as I have been studying for these sessions together, my own view of God has been changed. I realized that God is much more complex, much more difficult to understand, that I ever realized. But let me give you a word of encouragement. Even though we cannot know God fully, we can know Him truly. Because Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that you might know God; that they might know thee, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The unsearchability of God.

Listen to what the Scripture says. Our text is actually taken from Isaiah chapter 40, and I’m in verse 28: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” And so it is.

During these sessions together, we are going to see that we are led to the very limits of our understanding and our imaginations. But here the author is actually speaking about God’s creation—His creation. And we want to emphasize that. We think of God creating the ends of the earth, most assuredly, but also God created all of the species.

You know, I’ve discovered that there are about 8.7 million species in the world that are able to reproduce themselves, and each one intricately created. Have you ever given any consideration or study to the Bombardier beetle? I love to read about this beetle, because it has two separate compartments with two different chemicals, which when brought together actually are able to squirt hot liquid upon a predator. And that liquid is 100 degrees centigrade—212 Fahrenheit. That actually means that it is boiling. Now, the problem is that when these two chemicals come together, they have to become separate. There is an inhibitor that keeps them from exploding early, and then the inhibitor needs to be neutralized by another chemical.

Now maybe have not explained it very clearly. But here’s what I want you to know: that there’s no way that the Bombardier beetle could have been evolved, because all of these little beetles would have exploded as all of the intricacies—the complicated intricacies of this little beetle—as it was developing. God loves to do it that way so that we are able to see the hand of God in creation.

Now notice that God, of course, shows His intelligence through creation. He also shows His effortlessness. Let’s go back to the text. He faints not, neither is weary. You know, when God actually created and rested on the seventh day, it wasn’t because He was tired. Now here’s what I want to emphasize: when God wanted to humble Job, because you remember Job was becoming quite haughty in God’s presence, Job was complaining saying that God was unfair. You know what God did? God appealed to creation. And we don’t have time to read the whole story—I hope that you do on your own—except to say that the Lord began to ask Job questions. In fact, He asked him about 40 questions. I tried to count them one time. I wasn’t sure exactly how many, it depends on what you call a question.

But listen to this: “Were you there when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy,” and on and on it goes. In fact, there’s a passage in Job that I’ve often smiled at. God is asking, “Job, where do you think I keep the snow before it falls to the earth? Where is that storehouse? Do you know anything about that?” And on and on. And finally Job says, “I’m gonna be quiet. I spoke.” And then let’s get to the very end.

After the Lord has asked all these questions, none of which Job was able to answer, he said these words. And I never want you to forget them. I memorized them in the King James many many years ago. Chapter 42, verses 5 and 6, where he said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee, and I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.” You know, the bigger our understanding of God, the deeper our repentance.

God is unsearchable, which means that we should stand in His presence with reverence, with as much understanding as we can possibly have. But at the same time, what we have to do is to simply leave things in His hands and know that there are things about God we’ll never understand. We may understand them someday, but we go on trusting and we repent for our haughtiness.

Thanks so much for joining us today. We hope that you’ll join us again next time, and for today, go with the unsearchable God.

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