For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6).
How often do we speak of intelligence as one of God’s characteristics? He must be exceedingly intelligent, for he designed and created the entire universe. He’s omniscient, omnipotent, omni-everything.
So, why do we regularly question or speak of him as though he’s not very bright?
Why would God permit evil?
Why would God allow so much suffering in the world?
Why would God allow me to suffer?
Why would God let me lose my job when I have a family to support?
What rational purpose would God possibly have for letting this happen?
You can add to the list.
Many questions we ask either imply or clearly state we think God isn’t as intelligent as we are, for we would never think of doing what he does or allowing what he allows. “If I were God, I wouldn’t have done it that way.” I heard a man even begin his prayer like this, “Lord, if you really think about it…”
In the book of Job, when God’s ways are questioned or misrepresented, a series of conversations ensue where human wisdom and advice are offered. Finally, God breaks in and answers, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me” (Job 38:2).
Then, for two entire chapters, God poses a long list of questions that imply his vastly superior intelligence and wisdom over human beings’ limited reasoning and flimsy intellectual powers.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God invites his people to debate, “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord (Isaiah 1:18). In the Gospels, Jesus engages scholarly men in conversations contrasting their faulty reasoning and his high intelligence. In many instances, his challengers and bystanders listening in were both amazed and amused at the cleverness of Jesus’ answers.
Jesus was frequently slandered: a deceiver, drunkard, glutton, false prophet, demon-possessed, and more. But no one ever accused him of being stupid. If he came to reveal the nature and character of God, then clearly, one of the things we learn about our Creator is that he’s brilliant beyond measure.
Have you heard someone say (or said yourself) accusatively, When I get to heaven, I’ve got plenty of questions I want God to answer? But do we really think that our lightweight questions or challenges will carry any weight when we arrive in the presence of absolute intelligence? I wonder if God is shaking in his boots right now, anticipating the day he will be called on the carpet by us.
God’s intelligence shines through the various and creative ways he deals with us in answering our prayers or even in the way he discloses himself to people of high learning. He seems to enjoy placing what I would call “mind-teasers” in the path of someone who lives strictly by reason and logic. He puts before them something that challenges their minds and causes them to ask, “Who could have done this without knowing all about me and my innermost thoughts? There seems to be some intelligent being behind this.” More than one skeptic has come to faith this way.
So we should begin any question about God with this assumption: whatever reason God may have for this or that, I can automatically assume that he has one and that it’s good. He may not grant me the why, for he will always trust his intelligence over my own—he knows better!
Far from being anti-intellectual, God has respect for the intellect, true learning, solid reasoning, and a taste for a good, old-fashioned debate. And why not? He created it all.
–Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash
- God Knows Better? - May 15, 2025
- Stop the Fraud to Youth: How to Equip Youth in the Faith – Ed Stolle on The Walk - April 28, 2025
- Hosanna in the Highest - April 12, 2025
