Some Truths about God’s Kindness That Make Him God

In learning who God really is, we find that he not only is separate from us in his richness and fullness as the eternal God, but he is also with us as a patient, gracious, forgiving, and loving God. So, not only is God rich in his life as God, he also is gracious and kind in his relationship with his people. Here we look together at three truths about God that show the greatness of his kindness, truths that help us know God better and realize even more why our hope and trust and dependence should be placed in God.

First, God is wise. In fact, the Bible teaches that God’s wisdom is so vast and perfect that it is right to call him “the only wise God” (Romans 16:27). Even though people may have some bits of wisdom—some more than others, and all of it from God!—only God is perfectly wise.

To understand what it means for God to be wise, we should talk for a minute about the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge has to do with having certain facts or information stored up in one’s brain. A person can know the multiplication table or the order of the presidents of the United States or the names of the planets of our solar system. Knowledge is factual, and one can acquire much knowledge, but not necessarily be wise. What’s the difference? Wisdom depends on knowledge, but it goes beyond knowledge. Wisdom takes factual knowledge and puts it to use to figure out how best to solve a problem or how to plan for something that might happen in the future. Wisdom, then, is knowledge applied; it is knowledge put to use for some practical purpose. But there’s more. To see this, stop and ask yourself, what is the difference between someone who is wise and someone who is cunning or crafty? A cunning or crafty person probably uses knowledge to accomplish something, but he does this for bad purposes. A thief may be very cunning, but his use of knowledge of how to steal something should not be considered wise, right? So wisdom, then, is a use of knowledge, but it is a use of knowledge to bring about something that is good and right and helpful.

Now ask yourself two questions about God. 1) How much knowledge does God have? Answer: God knows everything that can be known. He knows everything about the past, the present, and the future. He knows things exactly as they are, and he is never wrong about anything. 2) What guides God’s use of this perfect knowledge as he makes his plans and carries out his will? Answer: God’s own holy and righteous nature guides him. This means that everything he decides, and every use of his knowledge, will bring about what is completely good and right and best.

No wonder the Bible talks about God’s wisdom being shown through his creation of the world (Psalm 104:24) and in his salvation of sinners (1 Corinthians 1:18–25). In these two greatest works of God we see how God took his vast knowledge and applied it to bring about what was good and right and beautiful and best. Both creation and the cross of Christ display the wisdom of God like nothing else ever has or ever could.