“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33

Surprise Endings

Have you ever read a really good book that had a surprising twist at the end? You never expected it to go that way. Like it or hate it, you’re not likely to forget a story with a surprise ending.

God’s Word has a surprise ending at the end of virtually every story. It leaves us with questions, and answers, and raised eyebrows. This peculiarity may be due to the upside-down, inside-out kingdom life, where everything is different than you think it will be. The first shall be last. The rich will be poor. One who loses his life will find it. The least will be the greatest. Give, and you’ll receive.

There are lots of these twists, these surprise endings, in scripture.

Job gets back twice as much as he lost. A shepherd becomes king. A boy kills a giant. People walk on water. A man lives through being stoned—over and over again. Flames of fire rest on people’s heads. The ground opens up and swallows the bad guys. Water is held back as if a wall. Bushes burn but aren’t consumed. People are raised from the dead. City walls fall at the sound of trumpets. Time turns back. Trees suddenly go fruitless. A peasant girl becomes queen. Godly people do ungodly things. A big fish swallows a man and spits him back out alive. A donkey talks. Trees clap their hands. Hills and mountains rejoice. Stars sing. Angels show up.

God has a Son. 

And the Son died, in that Kingdom topsy-turvy way, so we could live.

Let me ask you: What about God is ever predictable? Who can tell what His mind is on any particular topic (unless it is already clearly outlined in scripture?) Who thinks they know what God will do next?

Why are we so surprised when things don’t go the way we expected them to go?

Are we so very different than the men and women of the Bible? I imagine Moses, Abraham, Noah, Paul, David, and so many others, walked around constantly saying to themselves, “I wonder what He’ll do next?”

We make a lot of assumptions about our lives. We assume how God will act and what He will do. We assume He will do what He did the last time this happened. We assume our outcome will be just like that other person’s outcome.

Experience teaches us a lesson: God’s ways cannot be predicted. He cannot be pigeon-holed, “put in a box.” He cannot be figured out or fully known. If God was small enough for us to understand, He’d be too small to be God.

Instead of doubting when circumstances make us fearful, let’s learn to say, “I wonder what He’ll do about this?”

Father, we are thankful we can’t predict You, thankful You are too big for us to understand, thankful You don’t always answer the way we think You should. You can do whatever You want, and we will stand in awe. Amen.