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What About God's Thinking
This verse keeps coming up. I've used it twice in posts recently, it came up in a sermon last week, and again today. Maybe God keeps putting it front and center for a reason? The verse is Isaiah 55:8-9. “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..."
God is, in essence, saying, “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” (MSG)
It occurred to me this morning that God does NOT say, "My thoughts may not necessarily agree with your thoughts, and My ways may not always be your ways". He does NOT say "Sometimes I might think a little differently than you do, and I might work in some way other than the way you work". No, what He says is that His thoughts ARE NOT our thoughts, and that His ways ARE NOT our ways.
Some people a lot smarter than me, suggest this means God is simply stating that He is superior in both decision and action, and for certain He is saying that. Others will add that because we are human, we can't compete with God, again agreed! And I also agree that God is telling us to trust Him that He is more capable than we could ever imagine.
But is He perhaps likewise saying that He is so superior (reading vs-9), that it is impossible for Him to think and act like we might (or do) because He has all the facts, all the knowledge, and all the wisdom? He is able to see the hearts and intents of mankind, and we can't. He knows all, and He is able to see the big picture from beginning to end, while we can't, and He is righteous in all He does, unlike you and me. Perhaps because He has these and other divine qualities, it would be impossible for Him to take any action in any way like we as humans would suggest or pursue? Just a thought! I can say for sure that God has worked things out many times in hours of trouble in my life, and the way He has often done it, I could not have ever imagined.
A few days ago, we looked at the next two verses in Isaiah, that say (paraphrased) God has a plan, and He is working that plan, and that plan will be accomplished in His own time and in His own way.
When we look around us at what is going on in the world, consider politics for a moment (politics being a prime example but certainly only one of many things that fit this discussion). Perhaps we need to not be so critical of the tools (people in positions of power) that God is using to accomplish His plan, even if we view them as enemies based on their political affiliation, personality, actions or other behavior. God is assuredly working in ways that we are incapable of even understanding, much less devising such a plan on our own.
And bring it all the way home, God is using our jobs, our city, our co-workers, our children and families, and everything associated with our lives in a plan that is beyond us comprehending fully. That is why it is necessary for us to live by faith, and fully trust in Him. Second guessing it all is only that, a guess. We should rather rely on God, who is all knowing, all powerful, all present, and all loving
