This morning I read a devotion that reminded me of a post I published back on October 15, 2012, titled, “Invitation to the Thirsty,” and in that post I quoted Isaiah 55 (MSG) (see post at this link). The devotion I read for today was published in The Upper Room titled, “It’s the Beginning.” The Scripture reading for that devotion is taken from Isaiah 55 and focuses on Isaiah 55:6-9 (NIV) which states:
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
Call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord,
and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts…”
The author of that devotion describes an incident involving her nine-year-old son, and she started the devotion by stating:
“Why do you think the path ends here?” the tour guide asked while we wandered the carefully curated grounds surrounding the castle. My nine-year-old son volunteered, “Maybe it isn’t the end; maybe it’s the beginning.” We all smiled at his insightful perspective. (Quote source here.)
She ended her devotion by stating:
Life is full of roadblocks, and we can become discouraged thinking we have reached the end. Isaiah reminds us that God’s ways are different than ours. God’s perspective on our situation is much different than our limited view. My son’s observation on the path that day reminds me to trust God’s perspective no matter the circumstances and have hope that what seems like an ending might also be a beginning. (Quote source here.)
Life is full of roadblocks, and it can be discouraging when the next roadblock seems to follow right on the heels of the last roadblock. This has been the case in my life over the past 15 years. I spent many years looking for another job after losing my last job at the age of 56 back in 2009, and it never did show up; and then following on the heels of that roadblock came my years-long search for income-based senior housing that started in 2014 and, to date, it has never shown up either. Life can seem like a conundrum. However, as the author’s young son stated in the devotion above regarding the path that came to an end–“Maybe it isn’t the end; maybe it’s the beginning.”
As I was reflecting on Isaiah 55 this morning, specifically verse 9 which contrasts “our ways” with “God’s ways,” and “our thoughts” with “God’s thoughts,” I came across the following information found on GotQuestions.org related to both issues (e.g., “ways” and “thoughts”).
In answer to the question, “What does God mean when He says, “my ways are higher than your ways” in Isaiah 55:9?” GotQuestions.org states:
Isaiah 55:8–9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. . . . As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God’s infinite thoughts are far greater than our limited ability to comprehend them. The psalmist exclaimed, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17). God’s thoughts and His ways don’t always make sense to us, but we can rest in the knowledge that He is always good, and, therefore, everything He does is good (Psalm 13:6; 100:5).
The human heart is filled with questions for God: “Why?” “When?” “How?” We often wrestle with faith because of those questions. How can we fully trust a God we don’t understand? How can we have faith when God’s ways seem even cruel at times? When we try to comprehend God’s ways, we can become frustrated. His ways are higher than our ways, and His actions often do not make sense to our earth-bound minds. We question God’s ways when young people die, when tragedies strike righteous people, when the wicked prosper (see Psalm 73). So we beat on heaven’s door with our demand for answers, and no answer comes but this one: “My ways are higher than your ways.”
The key to finding peace with ways that we don’t understand is in Psalm 131: “My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (verses 1–2). A just-weaned child does not understand everything his mother does. She may correct him, take him to the doctor for vaccinations, and tell him “no” when he wants something very much. But he trusts her and loves her because he knows she loves him. He rests on his mother in complete humility and trust in her superior wisdom and provision. That’s what we must do with God when His ways are beyond our comprehension.
If we try to understand God’s ways from earth looking up, we won’t find many answers. Instead, God left us a clue in the word higher. His ways are not merely different from ours, they are higher. Better. Superior. They exist on a grander scale. He parted the Red Sea because it fit His plan for Israel (Exodus 14:21; Psalm 66:6). He made the sun stand still so Joshua’s army could defeat their enemies (Joshua 10:12–13). He sent an angel to let Peter out of jail (Acts 12:6–10), but He allowed James to be executed (Acts 12:2). God has allowed some of His faithful servants to suffer terrible fates, even though He could have delivered them if He chose (Hebrews 11:32–40). When we try to make sense of these events with our natural minds, we won’t get anywhere. Instead, God invites us to come up higher and learn to see life from His perspective.
From earth looking up, we see only confusion. But from heaven looking down, we see a plan unfolding. In Isaiah 46:9–11, the Lord lays out His sovereign plan to use the Persian king Cyrus: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.” We may not know why God needs a “bird from the east” or why He would want to use a man like Cyrus. The man “from a far-off land” may not himself understand why he is moving across the world. But those who trust the Lord can rest in the confidence that God is at work. The Bible gives little room for the idea of coincidence (Proverbs 16:33; Psalm 37:23). In God’s “higher ways,” everything happens for a reason and will be woven into the fabric of God’s good plan for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
God’s ways are higher than our ways because His ways are always part of a bigger plan. We see only our small piece of the puzzle; God sees the finished work. We see a portion of the jumbled back of the tapestry; God is the Weaver at the loom. When our desire is to live in step with His plan, we can have confidence that, even when bad things happen, God is still in control. He often takes what Satan meant for evil and turns it into good for the salvation of many (see Genesis 50:20). God’s priorities are the magnification of His glory and the expansion of His kingdom (Psalm 97:6; Luke 8:1). When God’s glory and God’s kingdom are our priorities, too, we learn to rejoice that His ways are higher than our ways (1 Corinthians 10:31). (Quote source here.)
In answer to the question, “What does God mean when He says, “my thoughts are higher than your thoughts” in Isaiah 55:9?” GotQuestion.org states:
In a beautiful passage in Isaiah 55, the Lord cries out to Israel to return to Him and reminds them that only He can supply what they need. He then says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. . . . As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (verses 8–9). A loving parent does things for a child that the child doesn’t understand. Likewise, the Lord loves, guides, protects, and provides for us in ways we don’t understand. His thoughts are higher than ours. As an infinite Being with infinite wisdom, God knows and understands things we cannot comprehend. We are wise when we bow to that knowledge rather than demand that He do things our way.
We live in a material world, so our natural focus is primarily on our physical needs. But when our thoughts are centered on mundane matters, we miss what God wants to show us. He is beyond time and space. His thoughts are always on the big picture. Our thoughts are earthly; His are heavenly. Our thoughts are limited; His are unlimited and unsearchable.
When God promises that “all things work together for the good to them who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28), His definition of good may not match ours. We may not see our struggles as leading to anything good because we can’t see into the future. We cannot know how God’s work in our lives will impact ourselves and countless others. He sees the whole picture; we see only the frame. Lost in our lowly thoughts, we cannot fathom the higher plan of God. That’s why we have to trust His character when we don’t understand.
In Jeremiah 29:11 God expresses some of His higher thoughts toward Israel: “For I know the plans I have for you, . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” In this verse, God promised that the Israelites, exiled in Babylon, would one day return to their homeland. He encouraged them not to give up or think that the Lord had abandoned them. His thoughts toward them were higher than they could imagine, and they had to put their faith in His promises, even while enduring His discipline (2 Kings 21:14; Jeremiah 29:14). God was reminding His children that He can see around corners and into a future that they could not see. As God’s children today, we can also claim this verse, knowing that God’s thoughts toward each of us are on a higher plane than our own.
When God allows sorrow and pain to enter the lives of His beloved children, it is because His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He intends to use our difficulties to produce the character of Christ in us (Romans 8:29). He comforts us in our troubles so that we can learn to comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:4). His goals for us are higher than our goals for ourselves because His thoughts always have an eternal dimension. Our experiences are small pieces in a giant puzzle that stretches across human history from beginning to end. We may not understand our part in the puzzle, but we can trust that God does. As we surrender to His plan, we set aside our earth-bound thoughts and allow His higher thoughts to direct our paths (see Proverbs 3:5–6). (Quote source here.)
As I reflect back on these past 15 years, I have learn far more then I ever could have learned if I had found another job and kept on with my life as I knew it back then. I could tell story after story after story of how God has met my needs in ways I never could have understood if I had tried to meet them on my own. But even greater then that is the fact that I have learned just how much my ways and my thoughts are not even close to God’s way and God’s thoughts, and His ways and thoughts are infinitesimally greater, and He sees far beyond anything that we think we see and understand, or how we think our lives should unfold.
Throughout the Bible God has led His people through circumstances they never thought they’d ever face, and, in fact, they had no clue how to face them on their own. He leads His children as they trust Him in all circumstances. That’s not to say that we always get it right, but when we make ourselves 100% available to Him, He works through us even in the midst of our frustrations.
I’ll end this post with the words found in Proverbs 3-5-6 (NKJV): Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him…
And He . . .
Shall direct . . .
Your paths . . . .
YouTube Video: “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” by Matt Maher:
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