Beyond Measurement

Monday - April 4th

Scripture to Read Today: Romans 11:33-36

Infinite - "God is Beyond Measurement"

Names and Attributes of God

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Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Romans 11:33

During my college years, I had several different jobs to earn money to pay for my schooling. Washing pots and pans in the kitchen, being a student manager of the cafeteria, calling prospective students for the college admissions department, and serving as a resident assistant are a few things I did in my college days. During the first two years of my undergraduate studies, my boss in the cafeteria recruited me to referee some local Junior High boys and girls basketball games and High School girls volleyball games. That was a lot of fun, but challenging!

After some training, my boss and I teamed up as a pair of referees that worked together. Much of our training emphasized pacing the game by our calls as referees. We were taught that the first quarter or half of a basketball or volleyball game should be called a little too tight. It sets a pace for both teams in terms of fouls and competitive spirit. If you are tougher early in the game, you don't have to react with toughness, trying to regain control when things get more competitive toward the end of the game. That was great advice. It worked. A few games that we allowed to get out of hand early became disasters.

One part of the referee experience that I do not remember our trainers spending much time on was handling parents. The parents were more challenging to deal with than the players and coaches. When I become a parent, it was something I thought about as my kids played organized sports as they were growing up. Parents of junior high and high school kids want their kids to excel in the worst way. If you call a foul in basketball or an illegal volleyball hit, parents question your judgment quite vehemently. Those kinds of calls do have a level of subjectivity. I could understand if a parent wasn't happy with that kind of call against their son or daughter.

What frustrated me were the calls that seemed to be so clearly objective. A ball out of bounds or a foot on a line seemed unquestionable, but not with most parents. We got called every name in the book during our days of refereeing together. I learned a lot about people, and in a way, life while officiating games.

Most aspects of organized sports like basketball and volleyball can be measured. They are limited by time and space. When the clock runs out, the game ends. When someone steps out of bounds or a ball misses the basket, there are consequences. The rules limit how the game is played. No matter what players, coaches, or parents say, a referee is there to help keep the game within the game's measured rules. No sport is beyond measurement. No player plays without boundaries. No human being exists outside of the dimensions of time and space.

Every person ever born is confined to the measurements of existence in our universe. We are all finite beings. God, however, is not. He is infinite. No boundary or border confines Him. No rules of the universe or life limit Him.

In Romans 11:33-36, the Apostle Paul describes the attribute of God as being infinite. In verse thirty-three, he says, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!" He cannot be limited. As finite beings, God being infinite should both humble us and encourage us. We should be humbled by His vastness - the inability to measure Him.

We should be encouraged because this same God knows us and walks with us as His children. Nothing confines Him. Nothing limits Him. While we deal with the ups and downs of living in time and space, He does not. We can trust Him, lean on Him, and rest in Him entirely no matter what we face in life!

If today you feel trapped, confined, or isolated by your circumstances, remember, you walk with a God who is beyond any measurement!

The trials and troubles of life impact us as finite beings, but nothing confines or limits our infinite God!