Word.ws English Dictionary

God works in mysterious ways

God works in mysterious ways proverb: expressing confidence that a conundrum has a solution despite it not being apparent.

Proverb

God works in mysterious ways

  1. Expressing confidence that a conundrum has a solution despite it not being apparent.
  2. Commenting on a situation that has led to some unexpected outcome in a surprising or convoluted way.
  3. Commenting that a seemingly unfortunate or unfavourable situation or change may be beneficial later or in the long run.
    • Person A: It seems that I'm about to be fired from my job.
      Person B: Well, God works in mysterious ways — maybe it'll be the kick you need to apply to university...

God works in mysterious ways meaning in Hindi, Arabic and Indonesian

God works in mysterious ways in Hindi

an unfavorable situation may be beneficial later
ईश्वर रहस्यमयी तरीकों से काम करता है īśvar rahasyamyī tarīkõ se kām kartā hai, ईश्वर की माया कहीं धूप कहीं छाया īśvar kī māyā kahī̃ dhūp kahī̃ chāyā

God works in mysterious ways in Arabic

an unfavorable situation may be beneficial later
لِلّٰهِ فِي خَلْقِهِ شُؤُونٌ lillāhi fī ḵalqihi šuʔūnun

God works in mysterious ways in Indonesian

an unfavorable situation may be beneficial later
Tuhan bekerja dengan cara misterius

Synonyms of God works in mysterious ways

Forms of God works in mysterious ways

alternative formthe Lord works in mysterious ways

Origin of God works in mysterious ways

Possibly originating from a poem by William Cowper (floruit 1731–1800), whose first stanza reads: God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform; / He plants His footsteps in the sea / And rides upon the storm. Despite the late attestation, the general sentiment of the phrase does hold apparent wide-ranging and prehistoric theological currency.

Questions about God works in mysterious ways

What does God works in mysterious ways mean?
God works in mysterious ways means expressing confidence that a conundrum has a solution despite it not being apparent.
What is God works in mysterious ways in Hindi?
God works in mysterious ways in Hindi is ईश्वर रहस्यमयी तरीकों से काम करता है (īśvar rahasyamyī tarīkõ se kām kartā hai), ईश्वर की माया कहीं धूप कहीं छाया (īśvar kī māyā kahī̃ dhūp kahī̃ chāyā). See God works in mysterious ways meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is God works in mysterious ways?
God works in mysterious ways is a proverb.

Words near God works in mysterious ways in the dictionary

  1. god trees
  2. god willing
  3. God willing and the creek don't rise
  4. God wink
  5. God winks
  6. God works in mysterious ways
  7. God's acre
  8. God's acres
  9. God's advocate
  10. God's algorithm
  11. God's ape

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: God works in mysterious ways (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-God works in mysterious ways.wav.

Cite this entry: “God works in mysterious ways.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/god_works_in_mysterious_ways. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.