Attributes of God by Charnock (Available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Conclude Chapter 9 (A discourse upon the wisdom of God).
Firstly if wisdom be an excellency of the divine nature, then:
(i) we may assert Christ's deity;
(ii) we may assert the right and fitness of God for the government of the world, as he is the wisest being;
(iii) we may see a ground of God's patience;
(iv) appears the immutability of God in his decrees;
(v) it follows that God is a fit object for our trust and confidence;
(vi) appears the necessity of a public review of the management of the world, and of a day of judgement;
(vii) we have a ground for a mighty reverence and veneration of the divine majesty.
Secondly if wisdom be the perfection of the divine majesty, how prodigious is the contempt of it in the world:
(i) in general;
(ii) in particular.
Thirdly understanding the wisdom of God is useful for comfort in:
(i) straits and afflictions;
(ii) temptations;
(iii) denials or delays of answers of prayer;
(iv) all evils threatened to the church by her enemies.
Fourthly Charnock exhorts us to:
(i) meditate on the wisdom of God in creation and government;
(ii) study and admire the wisdom of God in redemption;
(iii) let none of us be proud of, or trust in, our own wisdom;
(iv) seek to God for wisdom;
(v) submit to the wisdom of God in all cases;
(vi) censure not God in any of his ways.
What grabbed me
This one particularly caught me: 'Hence it follows, that God is a fit object for our trust and confidence. For God being infinitely wise, when he promises any thing, he sees every thing which may hinder and everything which may promote the execution of it; so that he cannot discover any thing afterwards that may move him to take up after-thoughts. He has more wisdom than to promise anything hand over head, or any thing which he knows he cannot accomplish. Though God, as true, be the object of our trust ; yet God, as wise, is the foundation of Our trust. We trust him in his promise; the promise was made by mercy, and it is performed by truth; but wisdom conducts all means to the accomplishment of it. There are many men, whose honesty we can confide in, but whose discretion we are diffident of; but there is no defect either of the one or the other, which may scare us from a depending upon God in our concerns. The words of man's wisdom the apostles entitles enticing; 1 Cor, ii. 4, in opposition to the words of God's wisdom, which are firm, stable, and undeniable demonstrations. As the power of God is an encouragement of trust, because he is able to effect; so the wisdom of God comes into the rank of those attributes which support our faith. To put a confidence in him, we must be persuaded, not only that he is ignorant of nothing in the world, but that he is wise to manage the whole course of nature, and dispose of all his creatures, for the bringing his purposes and his promises to their designed perfection.'
The infinitely wise God is indeed worthy of our trust.
Commence Chapter 10 (A discourse upon the power of God) by reading up to the paragraph commencing 'III. The third general thing is to declare how the power of God appears in creation, in government, in redemption.'
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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