You Were Made for Wonder, Not Witchcraft

Is your daughter getting married outdoors on a day when rain is in the forecast? Is your favorite college football team on a losing streak? Do you want to increase the likelihood that your husband will be hired?

There’s an Etsy witch for that. 

The online marketplace best known for handmade crafts and customizable gifts has evolved in recent years into a place where customers can purchase spell-casting services. With prices ranging from less than $10 to more than $200, customers can buy the service they’re looking for, whether that’s protection, a soulmate, or the perfect wedding day.¹

Now, I realize that if you’re a regular reader of this blog, the likelihood that you’ve bought a spell for a loved one or dabbled in witchcraft yourself is low. But with New Age practices such as astrology, tarot card reading, and fortune-telling becoming increasingly normalized in mainstream culture—and the cozy, feminine “witchcore” aesthetic making its way into everything from dorm-room decor to influencer content—it’s worth considering how easily we can become comfortable with practices that promise spiritual help apart from God.

I was thinking through this topic recently as I drove to my community group, not realizing how applicable that night’s discussion would be. Women in my church, and likely yours too, occasionally check their horoscopes to see what lies ahead or whether a relationship is meant to be. Others may look for signs and wonder if the universe is trying to tell them something. Still others may hold on to certain objects, not entirely believing they have any power but thinking that, at the very least, they can’t hurt anything. 

Even if we’re not the ones posting on “WitchTok” or entertaining occult practices, we’re still not immune to the desire for a little more certainty, a little more control, or a little more assurance that everything will turn out the way we hope—if not for ourselves, then for the people we love. 

Consider the most tender prayer requests you’ve heard from women in your circle of friends. What would they give to see God answer those prayers? What would you give to be able to provide them with tangible help? To be able to reassure your single daughter that she’ll meet her husband soon? To be able to promise your friend that her next pregnancy will end with a baby in her arms? To be able to guarantee that your sister’s struggling marriage will be restored? 

We’re right to long for these things and to bring those prayer requests before the Lord. But as we do, we also need to recognize how difficult it can be to face our own limitations. We can’t see the future, and we can’t guarantee the outcomes we so desperately want for the people we love. 

The more deeply we desire something, the more tempting it can become to look for a way to secure it. And while most of us can’t imagine turning to witchcraft, when the circumstances that matter most to us feel beyond our control, sometimes practices we’d otherwise reject can begin to seem a little more appealing.

The Heart of the Matter

What is the truth underneath this? 

That’s the question I find myself thinking through most often, especially when sitting across the kitchen table on community group nights and looking into the faces of the women I lead. When it comes to discussions like these, I’ve found that we don’t necessarily need complex theological answers as much as we need to apply the most foundational truths of our faith. 

What’s really at the heart of the matter when we seek spiritual help apart from the Lord? 

Think back to the first of the Ten Commandments: “Do not have other gods besides me” (Ex. 20:3). This command shapes everything that follows. It has never been an arbitrary restriction but a call to devotion to the only One worthy of our worship and trust. The Lord alone is the source of all that satisfies, and He is the author of every blessing. 

“Do not have other gods besides me,” the Lord says, and the implication is almost: Why would you want to? Wholehearted devotion to the Lord protects us from the exhausting pursuit of lesser things. He alone can give us true joy and peace. That’s why the psalmist could declare, “Who do I have in heaven but you? And I desire nothing on earth but you” (Psalm 73:25).

The commands that follow that first one in Exodus 20:3 are meant to be understood within the same framework. When witchcraft later comes up in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, it is described as a “detestable custom” (Deut. 18:9). At its root, witchcraft is fundamentally a form of idolatry. It breaks the first commandment by seeking power and knowledge apart from the Lord.

Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord confronts this idea: “When they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,’ shouldn’t a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isa. 8:19). Scripture makes clear that these practices are futile and, more than that, they’re spiritually dangerous.
 

But there’s another side to consider. If God has already invited us to find everything we need in Him, why would we turn to something that can never truly satisfy? Why would we settle for anything less than Jesus Himself?

These are rhetorical questions, and yet this is exactly what we do. As we discussed this topic in my community group, each of us confessed ways we’ve looked for control or satisfaction outside of Christ, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how important it was that we’d gathered that night. As Christians, we so desperately need the local church and the fellowship of other believers. We need each other to become quicker at recognizing and repenting of the idols we turn to instead of the Lord. 

We need to keep pointing each other back to Jesus—not simply because He forbids the occult practices that are becoming increasingly more commonplace in our culture, but because He is infinitely more wonderful than anything else we could pursue. 

Worship and Wonder 

That said, our goal as believers isn’t merely to turn away from lesser things or stop certain activities, as important as that is. We want to grow in our love for the Lord, becoming so captivated by who He is that we increasingly desire Him above everything else. 

We see a picture of this kind of wonder in the hymn at the end of Romans 11: 

Oh, the depth of the riches
and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments
and untraceable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
And who has ever given to God,
that he should be repaid?
For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33–36)

After Paul reflects on God’s extraordinary mercy and the mystery of His saving purposes, he breaks into worship, marveling at the wisdom and knowledge of the One whose ways are beyond our comprehension. If God’s wisdom is so gloriously displayed in His plan of salvation, how much more reason do we have to trust Him with everything else?

These verses remind us that we don’t need to look anywhere but to the Lord for the assurance we long for. They give us truths to return to whenever we’re tempted to seek satisfaction apart from Christ. These words are worth memorizing and meditating on. As you do, notice that the passage contains three exclamations, three rhetorical questions, and ends with a declaration that calls forth a doxology.²

Three Exclamations: To Marvel at the God We Cannot Comprehend (v. 33)

• Oh, the depth of His riches, wisdom, and knowledge!
• How unsearchable are His judgments!
• How untraceable are His ways! 

Oh, the depth of the riches . . . of God’s mercy. In Acts 19:18–19, we read about believers who came forward to confess their former practices. Many who had secretly practiced magic brought their books and burned them publicly. What a picture of genuine repentance. God’s mercy had brought them out of darkness and into the light of Christ. 

The same mercy still meets us today. Perhaps you’ve toyed with tarot cards, spell casting, psychics, witchcraft, séances, Ouija boards, or other practices that promise hidden knowledge, supernatural power, protection, or control. No matter how deeply you were involved, you’re not beyond the reach of God’s grace. 

The opposite is also true: if you’ve never entertained any of those practices and can’t imagine why someone would, you need the same mercy. We’ve all sought security in something other than the Lord. Although our idols may look different, our hearts are just as prone to wander.

How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways! Only the Lord could have devised such an extraordinary plan of salvation, much less bring it to pass throughout human history. While the Lord hasn’t promised to reveal everything to us, He has revealed His character and His promises through His work in redemption in Christ. And if He can be trusted with our eternal salvation, surely He can be trusted to reign sovereignly over the circumstances we face in our everyday lives.

Three Rhetorical Questions: To Humble Ourselves Before the God We Cannot Control (vv. 34–35)

• Who can know God’s mind? 
• Who can offer Him counsel?
• Who can place God in their debt?

Who has known the mind of the Lord? We spend so much of our lives trying to figure out what God alone knows. When a relationship ends suddenly, we don’t get the job we wanted, or a loved one receives a difficult diagnosis, we understandably want to know how the rest of the story will unfold. We want to have all of the answers because we think that knowledge will give us a sense of control. 

But try as we might, we cannot tell God what to do. Who has been his counselor? We know what we want for ourselves and the people we love, and sometimes we’re convinced we know the best way for Him to accomplish it. Humility involves recognizing that His wisdom is perfect, even when His plans look nothing like what we expected.

And who has ever given to God that he should be repaid? We can’t obligate God to give us what we want. Even our most faithful prayers don’t put Him in our debt, but that doesn’t mean we stop asking. It’s a privilege that the God who needs nothing from us still invites us to bring everything to Him. We can approach Him confidently, trusting Him to answer according to His perfect wisdom.

No Etsy witch needed.

Declaration and Doxology: To Worship the God to Whom All Belongs (v. 36)

Everything comes from the Lord, and all that He has made ultimately exists for His glory. That should prompt us to worship—not just with our words, but with our lives and with our trust. It really is a marvel that the God of the universe made us not for magic or for witchcraft, but for wonder—to rest in His wisdom and worship Him with our whole hearts. 

He alone is worthy. 

For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

¹ “The Rise of the Etsy Witch,” TIME, https://time.com/7307401/rise-of-etsy-witch/.

² Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 740.