Number

“Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number”  Job 5:9

Number – Do you remember when you first learned about the mathematical concept “infinity”?  It was so cool to imagine that no matter how big a number you can think up, there is always one more.  Numbers just go on and on to infinity.  So, we have the convenient little symbol ” ∞“.  Of course, logically there really is no such thing as an infinite number.  Infinity is simply a pointing mechanism.  It points us in the direction of the relationship of “always more”. 

That’s the thought behind this Hebrew word in Job.  Mispar is a word that means “number” but here it says that God’s wonders point us in the direction of always more.  They can’t be counted.  There are just too many of them.  Whenever we think we are getting to the last one, we discover there are always more.

Theologians get a lot of mileage from the idea of “infinite”.  Maybe that’s because they aren’t mathematicians.  They tend not to be careful with the word.  They speak about God’s infinite goodness, His infinite power, His infinite wisdom and knowledge or His infinite holiness.  Human beings like to attribute infinite qualities to God because it sounds so cool.  After all, we are anything but infinite – and God isn’t anything like us.  Maybe we should be a bit more careful with this Greek idea and stick to the Hebrew.  God is “always more” than what we imagine. 

I am so happy that God’s wonders won’t run out.  First, this tells me that God is always active, coming up with new stuff all the time.  I can’t wait to sit with Him while He shows me His new ideas for the day.  More creation. Cool!  Secondly, Job reminds me that God always has more in mind than I do, even for me.  He is able to take stuff that I think can’t possibility be used for anything and come up with more.  He did it for my life.  He can do it for yours.  In God’s world, there is always room for more.  And finally, I like this word for number because it tells me that God knows all the things to be counted even if I don’t.  There is no “infinity” for God.  He can actually count everything.  I might need pointing, but He doesn’t.  He already knows the beginning from the end.  That little symbol is only a shorthand way of saying that I can’t figure it out.  I have to trust Him. 

If your world is made up of some “big” numbers, look ahead.  God has “more” in mind than you can think.