The Death of Wonder

Romans 11:33: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how INSCRUTABLE His ways!

The darts scene from Ted Lasso is maybe the most iconic scene from the series. It’s yet another moment we realize Ted is a more complex, profound character than we (and others) had previously considered. And though we love when Ted sticks it to Rupert, we can’t help but be humbled ourselves. “Be curious” is the charge Ted offers “’cause if they were curious, they would’ve asked questions.”

Somewhere along the way my faith tradition stopped genuinely asking questions about God and spent more time relentlessly offering a ruthless, “complete,” systematic theology perfectly laying out everything there is to know about our God.

Of course, the irony is one of those characteristics we highlight is the INSCRUTABLE nature of God and His ways.

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Ecclesiastes 3:11: … yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
1 Corinthians 13:12: For now we see in a mirror dimly …

We have tendencies in the West to analyze, solve, conclude, master, and want to be correct above all else. So when we encounter something or Someone who is a bit of a mystery, we view it as a problem to solve. If we encounter a tension, we must resolve it. We don’t like unanswered questions because typically for us to trust, we must understand.

The biblical witness highlights a different response to our inscrutable God. Those who encountered God’s face or voice seem to become more humble, more curious and more worshipful (see Isaiah, Job, Moses, Paul). Westerners love Paul’s writings because of its practicality and more linear thinking. But buried deep in Romans (widely considered a nice, tidy systematic theology) the beautiful doxology of praise referenced at the beginning of this article. At the end of some gorgeous doctrine, Paul doesn’t conclude it with a theological mic drop, He worships with utter astonishment.

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Psalm 145:3: Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is UNSEARCHABLE.

The doctrine of inscrutability has long been rightly treasured as a beautiful aspect of our God. His ways are not our ways. Even in eternity, many theologians surmise we will never exhaust the depths of His wisdom, beauty and glory.

How truly wonderful!

And yet, if we're honest, we often live as though we've placed God inside the tidy box of our theological imagination.

We often mistake explanation for faithfulness.

We are more eager to explain God than we are to simply encounter Him.

When something unexpected happens, be it a revival, a movement, or a church doing something unfamiliar, we often rush to label it before we’ve taken any time to be curious. We try to fit it in a box so we can move on and not have to consider it.

In my tradition, I saw far too often people dismissed at the slightest perceived hole in their theology. If we found even one or two flaws, it meant we should probably discard all of which they spoke about. If a church or denomination did something different than us, we thought we were being bold to speak up and caution everyone about “how they do things.”

Little curiosity. Little willingness to ask questions. Great confidence they have God and right orthodoxy and right orthopraxy figured out.

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Ecclesiastes 3:1: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

Jeremiah told God's people to settle in Babylon. Haggai later told them to return and rebuild. Malachi reminded them that rebuilding the Temple wasn't enough. The prophets proclaimed different words in different seasons because they were responding to what God was doing at that moment.

I once heard an Eastern believer say when he encounters a mystery in Scripture, he doesn't panic, instead he dances, grateful there is still more of God to discover someday.

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Judaism in Jesus’s time was impressive. Many knew their Torah. I mean knew it. Inside and out. Completely memorized. Even to this day, if you go to Israel, you will see a love for Torah by some there that should make us blush at how little we know of our Bibles.

Like us, they all had assumptions about God they didn’t realize they were carrying. And in doing so, they all thought they understood far more than they actually did. The Pharisees, the scribes, the disciples, John the Baptist, Peter, Martha, everyone. And yet, they were all repeatedly shocked by Jesus. His words. His ways. His love.

So be curious for a second: if God surprised everyone (even those much more deeply acclimated with His ways than many of us) when He literally walked among them, how then are we so confident we have Him entirely figured out?

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God is inscrutable. His character. His ways. His movements. His interventions. God faithfully shepherds people through different seasons. His character never changes, but His invitations are often deeply personal. Stay close enough to the Shepherd to recognize His voice, even when He leads us somewhere unexpected.

I’m not saying truth is subjective. I’m implying it’s much deeper and wider and higher and longer than we understand.

So with that in mind, let me end with some thoughtful nudgings:

• Read and listen outside your tradition. Try the desert fathers, the Spanish mystics, the early church fathers, Dallas Willard, Messianic rabbis.

• Be curious when others differ. Ask questions. Be a learner. It may just lead you into deeper worship of our inscrutable God.

• Right doctrine should lead to worship. The aim of every doctrine should not be mastery, but worship.

• Leave room for mystery. Don’t solve every question for others. Invite them to go on a treasure hunt.

• Give grace to other traditions. Maybe they’re not as crazy as you surmise. Maybe they invite you to notice something about the Lord your tradition is prone to overlook.

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If God is truly inscrutable, then every question is an invitation to something deeper (not a threat). Every surprise is another glimpse of His beauty. Every season is a unique opportunity to follow Jesus.

We need not fear a God we cannot fully comprehend. Instead, enjoy the ride. If He leaves a mountain we thought we’d always be on, then let’s trust and follow Him.

Stay curious. There is still more of God to discover. Further up and Further in.