“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

The God of the Judeo-Christian tradition is unique among the deities of the world religions. The gods of the various pagan religions are merely creaturely realities—sun, moon, stars, animals—that have been elevated in the minds of people to divine status. The pantheist religions elevate creation as a whole to divine status; the secular religions of our day typically elevate men or material wealth to divine status. Only in the Judeo-Christian tradition (and religions that have been influenced by it) does the divine transcend the creation. God transcends the creation as its Creator.

Since the Bible teaches that God transcends the created order, it is less than surprising that the Bible also teaches that the mind of God transcends the minds of people. The questions of our verse for today are rhetorical. The assumed and obvious answer is “no one.” No one knows the mind of God and no one has been His counselor. Isaiah quotes God as saying, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts,” (Isaiah 55:9).

If it were not for the fact that God reveals His thoughts to us, we would know nothing about them. God does reveal things to us, but He does not reveal everything to us. God is under no obligation to reveal the fullness of what He knows. The Bible leaves many of our questions unanswered. Furthermore, when God does reveal personal things to us, plans for our future and the like, He does not reveal the complete picture. Who can say that he knows God’s complete plan for his life?

Given that God transcends creation, and given that the mind of God transcends the minds of people, one can see why faith and trust are such major themes in the Bible. Since we do not know all the answers, we must trust God. We must trust that what He has revealed is good, and we must trust that what He has not revealed is in His hands.

Trust in the Lord, therefore, with all your heart.