Romans 11:33-36 — 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 counsellor? 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.

Do you understand what’s going on in your life, good or bad? If you do, cherish the moment! For me, the number of times I really knew what God was up to have been very few. Oh, there have been quite a few times when I thought I knew … but looking back I have so often seen that I was so wrong.
Paul has been describing God’s plan of redemption … The amazing intertwining of the history of Jews and Gentiles. It’s not a plan any human agency could have conceived! Paul breaks out into this ecstatic glorification of God — typical of the passion bubbling under all his writing. Let’s take a closer look.

First, comes the recognition of the limitless scope and variety of divine imagination. Nobody can penetrate those depths. The reasons for God’s decisions cannot be understood and He’s not about to explain Himself. Nobody can understand God’s ways — we can see His footprints, but we can’t see His passage, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

Next, Paul turns to the question of who gives advice to God. That’s an easy one. Nobody gives advice to God. Nobody could. Nobody knows what God is thinking about — so nobody can possibly advise Him!

Then there’s a question of who owns the resources. Who can give something to God so that God has a debt to pay back? Nobody! “Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?” Is an approximate quotation from Job: “Who hath first given unto me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. (Job 41:11 ASV)”. 

In the end, everything is from God, flows to us through God, and will flow back to Him in worship. No wonder Paul ends by giving glory to God — and so should we all!