“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.” (Ephesians 1:3-6, New Living Translation)
I want you to notice two phrases in that paragraph: “Even before he made the world … God decided in advance …”
This morning I read a hymn, “How Lovely Shines the Morning Star,” by German pastor Philipp Nicolai (1566-1608). These words from the final stanza almost shimmered off the page for me: “Thou, mighty Father, in Thy Son didst love me ere Thou hadst begun this ancient world’s foundation.”
Can I just say, OMGoodness!
That short line in an ancient hymn called to my mind those words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1. Can you get your head around that? Before He ever laid out the foundations of the earth, before He spoke the world into existence, before there was history, God WAS.
Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God …”
And before He DID or CREATED anything, He “loved us and chose us in Christ …”
Have I said, OMGoodness?
Can you get your head around that? I can’t. All I can be is amazed and grateful.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!” (Romans 11:33, Amplified Bible)
If you can’t be encouraged by that, your encourage-er might be broken!
Question: How do you handle God’s mysteries that are beyond your comprehension?
Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your perspective.
