God Moves In A Mysterious Way

This is one of my favorite hymns. It was Hymn 92 in the old hymnbook, and it is Hymn 142 in the new one.

The author

The words of this hymn were written by the poet William Cowper (1731-1800). Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”) was not a Christadelphian, and in fact believed various false doctrines. But as a beautiful statement of the providence of God this hymn is in my opinion without parallel.

Throughout his life William Cowper was physically frail and emotionally sensitive. At an early age he suffered a mental breakdown and attempted suicide because of the pressures of schoolwork. He spent time in a mental institution. In later years he continued to be plagued by bouts with depression. But in the times between such spells he devoted himself to reading the Bible, and he composed many hymns characterized by a strikingly vivid use of Scriptural imagery. In our new hymnbook, his hymns are also found in 244 (“Wherever, Lord, thy people meet”) and 317 (“Hear what God, the Lord, hath spoken”).

The progression of thought

The hymn praises God as One who dwells in and rules over all parts of His awe­some creation. As we look at the hymn, we see that:

• Stanza 1 is about the sea,
• Stanza 2 describes things under the earth, and
• Stanza 3 describes the heavens, while…
• Stanza 4 talks about the crops upon the earth.
• The final stanza is a summary, exhorting us to consider all God’s works.

The hymn is based in large part on Job 28. Its theme is that God will, one day, make everything plain. Then He will explain in their fullness the things we don’t really understand, now. This is not only an idea to be found in Job 28; it is one of the main points in the whole Book of Job. It is God’s main theme when He finally communicates directly with Job.

The suffering Job asks, ‘Why? Why?’ in ever increasing pain and bewilderment. These complaints finally come very close to sin: anger with God, bitterness, and an unjustified pride in his own “righteousness”. (We shouldn’t be too hard on Job, however. We haven’t come within miles of experiencing the degree and depth of suffering and loss that he did.)

Finally, toward the end of the Book, God reveals Himself to Job. Ironically, even when He appears to Job, the LORD doesn’t give him point-by-point answers to his questions about the losses and trials he has suffered. Instead, God tells Job to look at the world around him, with its natural phenomena: ‘Job, were you there when I created the heavens and the earth? Can you feed the wild animals? Can you explain how the child grows in the womb? Can you tame the mighty beasts and sea-creatures, and get them to do your will?’ And so forth. In short, and rather bluntly paraphrased, God is telling Job: ‘I am God, and you aren’t.’

Evidently, Job finds that answer satisfactory, for he repents “in dust and ashes”, and is forgiven for his indiscretions and his speaking against God. And God at last blesses Job once again.

Still there is no definitive answer from God, not really, as to why Job needed to suffer as he did. The real answer is instead: ‘Job, you let Me worry about that.’ The answer is not that much different from the parent’s answer, familiar to every child. The child asks, ‘Why? Why? Why do I have to go to school today? Why do I have to eat my broccoli? Why do I have to go to bed at 8 o’clock? Why? Why?’ And the parent says: ‘Because I said so.’ Or ‘I’m the parent and you aren’t.’

Which is another way of saying, ‘Trust in me to do the right thing, even with your life, and one day I will explain everything. That will be the day you are prepared to understand what I will tell you. Until then… well, you’ll just have to have faith.’

It is a hard answer to accept. We imagine ourselves, at every stage of our lives, so intelligent that we can handle all knowledge, if it is just communicated to us. But we can’t, apparently. God tells us, ‘You can’t handle all the facts; I’ll tell you what you need to know for now. The rest will have to come later.’

That’s what this hymn is all about.

Stanza One: The Sea

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

The image of God’s footsteps in the sea is the profound thought of this stanza. Paul concludes a main section of his letter to the Romans with a doxology of praise to God in these words:

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Rom 11:33).

The wisdom of God, Paul says, is in the “depths” (of the sea) and is “unsearch­able” or “mysterious”. The sea is a place where man can scarcely venture, without sinking into oblivion. Just as Peter tried to walk on the water, and sank, so there are certain depths of knowledge and understanding that we cannot reach, for now. And while Peter’s desire to walk on the water to Jesus was commendable, such a walk wasn’t meant to be, at that time. It would have been better to remain safe in the boat.

There was a time, however, when Israel did follow the footsteps of the Lord through the sea. That was when Yahweh led them out of Egypt. Psalm 77 alludes to this: “Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (vv 19,20).

The footprints were not seen because, after the Glory of God led them through the seabed, the waters closed over their path and drowned the Egyptian army that attempted to follow them there.

The only way we are safe in the “depths” of the sea is when our Heavenly Father takes us by the hand to lead us. Even then we must stick close to Him, like the flock of sheep must stick close to the shepherd. Those who attempt to walk through that “sea” on their own initiative, like Pharaoh’s army, will surely sink and drown in their own pride and ignorance.

Stanza Two: Under the Earth

Deep in unfathomable
mines Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.

Here we get even closer to Job 28, which is an extended parable: the miner tunnels and labors underground to find the precious metal ore or gems that are hidden from ordinary view:

“But where can wisdom be found?” (v 12).

It cannot be bought, yet it is worth far more than any precious stones, like dia­monds or rubies.

“God understands the way to it” — that is, to wisdom — “and he alone knows where it dwells” (v 23).

It is buried, as far as natural man can see; it is — here’s that wonderful word — “unfathomable”. We cannot reach the “depths” where it is hidden.

Elsewhere, however, Job himself has spoken about this theme, for he says in Job 23:8-10:

“But if I go to the east, he [God] is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”

There is an irony here, and it contains a powerful exhortation. Wherever Job seeks to find God, he cannot. By this he must mean: ‘I look for Him like I might seek a man, but He is never there.’ However, even though Job cannot “find” God, Job is never out of God’s sight. God is always with him, seeing him, and watching over every step he takes: “Even though I can’t see him, He knows the way that I take.”

God is always there, though never seen. And all the while Job is asking his ques­tions, and seeming to get no answers, and looking for the face of God, and seeming to find nothing… all that time God is mining and extracting that most precious of metals, gold, out of the life of Job. “When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Out of the unfathomable mine of human nature, God by His never-failing skill is extracting and refining His own special treasure: the tried faith of His servant Job, a faith that is like gold tried in a furnace (1Pe 1:7).

So the treasure to be desired, as Job 28 (and Proverbs) says, is “wisdom”, but it is not wisdom in the abstract. It is instead wisdom tried and tested, that has traveled in the way of God: “He knows the way I take.”

What a profound thought, and what a remarkable twist. Wisdom is not so much the “object” one finds, somewhere along the way. Rather, it is the “journey” one takes in the quest for that wisdom. It is through the journey of our lives in the Truth, and arising out of that journey, that God Himself — in His wisdom (what the hymn calls His “bright designs”, and His “sovereign will”) — extracts the “treasure” He is seeking. We thought we were seeking God and His wisdom, but all the while He was seeking us, and the development of our wisdom. In His provi­dential guiding of our lives, our heavenly Father was molding character, putting that character to the test, purifying and preparing it for eternity with Him.

God’s work of “creation” did not end on the sixth day; it is an ongoing work of “creation” (called in the New Testament the “new creation”), whereby we are being turned into something worth preserving, something worth God’s love and time and effort. “Behold, I make all things new.” And that includes us.

Stanza Three: The Heavens

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take.
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall
break In blessings on your head.

From a discussion of “wisdom” being mined out of the earth, the Book of Job moves to a consideration of the heavens. Elihu finally speaks, and he describes a God who is beyond our understanding, even as the phenomena of the sky is beyond our understanding, or control:

“How great is God — beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out. He draws up the drops of water, which distill from the mist as rain; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion? See how he scatters his lightning about him, bathing the depths of the sea” (Job 36:26-30).

The clouds bring rain, which nourishes the earth, and thereby nourishes man. But those clouds can be frightening, even to the “saints” of God. In Job 37, Elihu seems to be describing, in great detail, an approaching storm (vv 1-5,11-13, etc). Closer and closer it comes, and fiercer and fiercer it grows, until finally God Himself speaks out of the storm (Job 38:1).

The scene here is similar to the one in 1 Kings 19, where the prophet Elijah has fled for his life to mount Horeb, or Sinai. There he experiences a “theophany”, a manifestation of God that is frightening in the extreme: a great and terrible wind (a tornado?) tears the mountains apart, and a savage earthquake shakes them even further. Then comes the great fire (lightning?), so that the prophet flees into the cave to escape. And all this serves to introduce Yahweh Himself, who finally speaks, in “a still, small voice” (KJV, RSV), or by a “gentle whisper” (NIV).

The way God acts, in the world at large and with the nations, or in the individual trials of our lives, can at first seem fearsome, like the rumbling of thunder or the crash of lightning. But we find, in time, that the “clouds” we so much dreaded are in fact filled with the mercy of God. All that He does is, ultimately, for our blessing. When He speaks to us in the gentle voice, then we understand: all that went before, even “the bad”, was for our good (Rom 8:28). He is truly in charge, and has a design and a purpose for each of us, in every particular.

Stanza Four: Upon the Earth

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

The parable of the farmer and the seed and the harvest, found in many forms throughout Scripture is the basis of this stanza.

The farmer must sow his seed, and then trust in God to bring the sun, and the rains, at the proper time, in order to produce a harvest, even though he cannot understand how it all works together (Eccl 11:1,5,6).

The poor family, down to the last of their stores of grain, must sow in faith, trust­ing that God will give them an increase to support their lives in the coming year (Psa 126:5,6).

The preacher of the gospel must cast his “seed” into all kinds of soil, trusting that some of it will take root and produce a good harvest (Matt 13; Mark 4).

The single kernel of wheat (Jesus Christ himself) must fall into the ground, and die, before it can produce the harvest of much grain (those who, in faith, partake of that life) (John 12:23-28).

For each of us, discipline and correction from God, though unpleasant, will “produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Heb 12:11). The “bud” may be exceedingly “bitter”, but the “flower”, the final result, will be “sweet” beyond all reckoning. What blessings He has in store for those who love Him.

Stanza Five: The Lesson

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan [i.e., study carefully]
His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

God will make it all plain, in His own time. What we need is patience, and faith, and trust in Him. What we need also is to recognize that all the answers are not immediately available, and that we may need to wait for them to be given to us.

This, I believe, also has a bearing on how we read Last Days prophecy. When we sing, “God is his own interpreter, and He will make it plain”, we are really saying, ‘We can’t — nor do we need to — understand how or when everything will work out to fulfill Last Days prophecy. The details can surely be left to God, and He will make it plain when it is fulfilled. In those cases, where we are uncertain now, we can safely wait to see how He brings it to pass when the time comes. After all, it’s His show, not ours.’

What we need is the patience and faith to “wait for the LORD”. We need to be willing to let go of our own desires, and our own timetables, and our own pre­conceived ideas of ‘how things ought to be’. And we need to let God decide how, and when, and where to try us, and to mold us, and to discipline us. He alone, a loving Father, knows best what we need.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a [polished metal] mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1Co 13:12).

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he [Christ] appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1Jo 3:2).

“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev 7:14-17).