Paul could see that the Jews had turned down their Messiah so that the word would reach the Gentiles. God chose this as the best way for everyone to hear the news of salvation. The Jews will finally admit that Jesus is the Messiah (Romans 11:25–27). Paul’s words of praise went off when he heard this news. The first part of those words is in our verse today. He starts by thanking God for being wise and knowing. God knows everything. Seeing everything that could happen, he knows how everything will end.
God’s decisions can’t be explained. People like us think we know more than God does about the things He punishes here on earth. God knows every single one of the quadrillions of things that could go wrong. God thinks about so many things that we could never fully understand them in this life. He does only good things and is always fair and right.
God’s ways are hard to understand. So, the way God’s plans work out is something we can’t understand. Paul was saying that he could only see a very small part of what God was doing. He was amazed by that small truth. We sometimes see glimpses of how God is working in our lives, like when two events happen at the same time that can’t be explained by chance. These are the strange ways that God works. When that happens, we should read Romans 11:33–36 and praise our great God with the words that Paul was moved to write.
