The Wisdom of God
The Wisdom of God¹
Among the attributes of God—blessed is His name—is that He is wise in everything He does. There may also be among humans some wise people, as the poet says:
“Take knowledge from its masters … and seek wisdom from the wise.”
But the wisdom of God is distinguished from all these by being unlimited, and that it is for good, and encompasses all things, and minds stand astonished before it.
We will now give some examples of the wisdom of God, and we will speak first about His—glorified be He—wisdom in the matter of creation.
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David the Prophet says in the Psalm: “How great are Your works, O Lord; You have made them all in wisdom.” The great Creator, with great wisdom, arranged the timing of creation: He created water first before creating plants and grass so that the plants and grass would be nourished by it. And He created these before creating animals so that animals would feed on the grass. And He created man last so that he would feed on plants and so that the animals would be at his service.
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And how wondrous is the wisdom of God in physiology regarding His creatures: Look how He assigned specific functions to each center of the brain, and likewise His wisdom in the functions of the heart and its relation to the brain, and in the functions of every organ of the body, such as the liver, kidneys, all the elements of the digestive system, the circulatory system, the work of the blood, and the work of the bones. Also the work of the conscience, the work of the nerves, and the work of the mind.
Also look at the wisdom of God in the laws of heredity, and how the fetus inherits from the traits of its parents and some traits of the grandparents and what they left of latent traits in uncles and aunts. And what the role of genes is in all of this, and the role of hormones and chromosomes. And what the wisdom of God is in the laws of heredity related to general appearance, height, eye color, hair color, facial features, blood type, and so on. -
Also the wisdom of God in creating diverse and varied natures: He created the angels as spirits far from matter, with attributes completely different from humans. And He created inanimate beings that are only matter, without soul or spirit, such as mountains, rivers, stones, and sand. And He created other beings, some of which have a material body and a soul, such as animals, birds, fish, and insects. Then He created man from a material body, a soul, and a spirit, and he has a mind and a conscience. Each of these kinds has its own characteristics that distinguish it.
And all of creation is in amazing diversity: diversity in color, in form, in understanding, in temperament, and in the type of personality and mentality. And even diversity in speech or lack of speech and in types of sounds, so that creation does not become weary of looking at one another.
Imagine what creation would be like if this diversity did not exist?! If all humans, for example, had the same mentality, the same personality, the same form! Each person looking at another as if looking into a mirror!
God even created such diversity among the angels. They are not all of one rank nor of one order. There are angels of praise who stand before the divine throne, and other angels of service who are sent on specific missions.
In inanimate nature, He also created types: He created pressure, heat, air, clouds, and rain. Air moves from high pressure to low pressure. This low pressure decreases with heat, and if the intensity and speed of the air increase, it turns into winds and storms. Water can evaporate, rise, and turn into clouds, then condense again and turn into rain.
There is wisdom God placed in the laws of astronomy: in the relationships between suns, planets, stars, and galaxies… and what results from them of seasons, heat and cold, light and darkness, and the relationship of all these to human life. All of this in a fixed, wondrous, and wise system. -
And we see the wisdom of God in granting weak creatures a way by which they may escape from creatures stronger than themselves: The lion can prey on the gazelle, but God gave the gazelle an amazing ability to run by which it escapes the lion. And the dog can prey on the cat, but God gave the cat the ability to climb so that it climbs trees and poles and escapes the dog. And the cat has the ability to prey on the mouse, but God gave the mouse the ability to dig, so it digs pathways to hide in from the cat… and so on with many creatures.
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We can also contemplate the wisdom of God in trials and pain, and in the existence of pain in general. Pain in the body reveals the locations of illness. Diseases in which a person does not feel pain are very dangerous, for they continue to spread until they become difficult to treat. God allowed pain in order to lead a person sometimes to repentance. One hour of exhausting pain may bring a person back to God and lead him to repentance more than dozens of sermons. When he feels he is close to eternity, he prepares for it, or feels his great need for God and seeks Him. Pain also creates feelings of tenderness and compassion among people, so they contribute to relieving one another’s pains, and thus social relationships grow.
There is another contemplation regarding the wisdom of God in death: God brought death to transfer a person from a passing material life to an enduring spiritual life. And from the wisdom of God in death is that He does not leave on earth successive generations of powerless old age, but makes them yield the way to new generations full of vitality, activity, and productivity. And from the wisdom of God in the existence of death is that it makes people prepare for eternity, knowing that this life does not remain on earth. -
We all believe in the wisdom of God. Our faith in this has many benefits in our lives. As we trust in God, we entrust our lives to Him, and thank Him for all His arrangements with us and with others. And in our faith in the wisdom of God, we avoid murmuring and complaining and also blasphemy, feeling that everything God does is for our good, whether we understand it or not.
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Al-Ahram Newspaper on 24-8-2008.
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