Isaiah 55:8, 9 - Gods Thoughts and Ways are Higher than Our Thoughts and Ways.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV) "For My thoughts are
not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,"
says the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, So are My ways higher than your
ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
INTRODUCTION
The people of Israel were foolish to act as
if they knew what God was thinking and
planning. His knowledge and wisdom are far greater
than mans. We are foolish to try to fit God
into our mold - to make his plans and purposes
conform to ours. Instead, we must strive to fit into
his plans. [Life Application SB]
"The dealings of God with His people often
appear mysterious. His ways are not our ways, nor
His thoughts our thoughts. Many times His way of
dealing is so contrary to our plans and expectations
that we are amazed and confounded. We do not
understand our perverse natures; and often when we are
gratifying self, following our own inclinations, we
flatter ourselves that we are carrying out the mind
of God. And so we need to search the
Scriptures, and be much in prayer, that, according to
His promise, the Lord may give us wisdom. TM503
COMMENTARY PEARL
What Is He Thinking?
We tend to interpret life by how it looks
to us at the moment. And if its a little
uncomfortable, if its a little difficult, we might
think, Obviously Gods thoughts toward me
arent good. Or we might falsely conclude that
God isnt thinking of us at all.
But we must remember that in the midst of
the process, God has a plan and a purpose for
our lives.
We find a wonderful promise in Jeremiah
29:11, a verse that every Christian should commit
to memory: For I know the plans I have
for you, says the Lord. They are plans for
good and not for disaster, to give you a future
and a hope (NLT).
Its interesting to consider the
backdrop of that statement. God spoke those words to
His people, the Jews, who were living as
captives in Babylon. For them, their world had ended.
They thought they had no future. They probably
believed that God had forgotten about them.
God had disciplined His people for their
disobedience by allowing them to be taken into captivity.
However, the principal message He gave to His people
was that He still loved them and He still had a
plan and a purpose for their lives. He was
disciplining them not because He hated them but because
He loved them.
The Bible says, For the Lord corrects
those he loves, just as a father corrects a child
in whom he delights (Proverbs 3:12 NLT).
Although Gods plans and thoughts for us are good,
they may not seem good to us at the time.
Maybe youre wondering whether God has
forgotten about you. You might be facing difficulties,
or perhaps God is disciplining you.
Remember this: because the Lord loves
you, because you are His child, He will do what
is necessary in your life to make you the
person He wants you to be. His plans and thoughts
for you are good. [Greg Laurie from Harvest
Ministries; https://www.harvestdaily.com]
COMMENTARY
God Wants to Show You His Perspective -
Through the Bible
Imagine that youre driving up a
mountain. The road is twisting and turning, and
youre stuck behind an incredibly slow car. You
think, If I could just see around the corner, I
could pass this car. Then a helicopter flies by
and the pilot radios down, I can see two
miles ahead. Its okay for you to pass.
Whats the difference between you in
the car and the pilot in the helicopter?
Perspective.
The pilot had a much bigger perspective
than you. So he could help you know the next move
to make.
Your relationship with God is the same.
He has a much bigger perspective on your life
than you do.
God wants to share his perspective with
you, and he does that through the Bible.
Gods perspective helps you understand
the big picture - the reasons behind what he
does and what happens in the world.
Without Gods perspective in your life,
life can be full of constant frustration. You
spend your days asking questions you cant
answer: Why is this happening to me? Why is that
happening to other people? What is the purpose of
this? What is the meaning of life?
The answers to those questions are found
in Gods perspective.
Have you ever tried to do something,
thinking it would work out, but found that it
didnt? You lacked perspective.
Proverbs 14:12 says, There is a way
that seems right to a person, but eventually it
ends in death (GW).
By gaining perspective, you get outside
your own way of thinking and learn to think like
God does.
Psalm 103:7 says, He made known his
ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of
Israel (NIV). The people of Israel saw what God did
- the opening of the Red Sea, the manna, the
miracles with water, and more.
But God let Moses understand the
why behind what he did. He gave Moses his
perspective.
How can you get perspective? By studying
Gods Word. [Daily Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
God's Thoughts
We don't always understand what God is
doing We wonder why He thought His timeframe
was better than ours We struggle to
understand why He allows tragic things to happen to
godly people who have already suffered plenty
We speculate about why the unbelievers down the
street seem to have such a happy, easy life ...
Gods ways aren't our ways, are they? Neither are
His thoughts. But a God we could understand -
whose ways we could explain and even predict -
wouldn't be very big, very powerful, or very wise.
Our omniscient God knows the big picture. He
understands how an action today affects eternity, and
remembering that fact can be comforting.
The reality that God's thoughts are
higher than ours impacts not only our perspective
on life but also our approach to the Bible. We
should not try to reduce God's Word to a level that
makes sense to us. Rather, we should ask God to
raise our thinking so we better understand His
Word and gain His perspective on the world around
us. [Being Still With God Every Day by Henry
Blackaby]
When Your Plans and Gods Plans Dont
Match
Life is full of interruptions. Sometimes
we have big plans - for a career, family, or
ministry - but God takes our lives in a different
direction.
When our plans and Gods plans dont
match up, we often try to kick down the door. Then
things get worse.
Just ask Jonah. He learned the hard way
how to respond when Gods plans and his plans
didnt match. God told Jonah to warn the people of
Nineveh that they needed to repent from their evil
ways. But Jonah ran from God and ended up in the
belly of a big fish, so God had to rescue him.
Jonah then did what God had said to do,
but when the people of Nineveh repented and God
didnt punish them, the prophet was extremely
disappointed.
So God gave Jonah an object lesson. God
caused a plant to grow large enough to give Jonah
shade. Then he sent a worm to attack the plant and
kill it. The next day, as the sun beat down on
Jonahs head, he expressed his frustration to God.
And thats when God reminded Jonah of
four truths to remember when Gods plans differ
from ours.
God can see things you cant. He can
see the past and the present and the future all
at the same time. He created time, so he is not
subject to time.
God is good to you even when youre
cranky. You may have been going the opposite
direction from God, and he still covers you with
shade. God cares about your comfort because
thats the kind of God he is. He loves you even
when youre unlovable.
God is in control of every detail of your
life. Your plans dont fail randomly. God has a
purpose in everything in your life. Jonah shows us
that God uses both the big (a large fish) and the
small (a worm) to direct our lives, but he is in
control of it all.
God wants you to focus on what will last.
Most of what worries you wont be around
tomorrow. God wanted Jonah to care about the salvation
of the people of Nineveh, not a plant that
would die the next day. Above all else, focus on
getting Gods Word into your heart and bringing
people into his family.
Just because your plans arent turning
out the way you want doesnt mean God isnt
intimately involved in every step. Ask God to help you
see his hand in your broken plans, and trust him
in his goodness as he shows you the way
forward. [Daily Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
God Is Good, Even When Youre in Pain
There probably have been many times that
youve prayed for something, and God didnt
answer the way you wanted, or you feel like he
didnt answer at all.
Does that mean prayer doesn't work? No -
because youve seen it work too many times. Does
it mean that God isn't good? No, God is good,
whether youre in pain or not. Does it mean that
you should give up on prayer? No! God is not a
vending machine, and prayer is not a painkiller. He
has not guaranteed us a pain-free life.
When youre in pain and you pray but
don't see the answers, dont give up. Your job
is to keep praying and keep trusting God,
because you know that everything he does and allows
in your life, he will use for good. God is a
good, good Father, even when youre in pain.
If a doctor cuts you open during surgery,
that's going to cause some pain. But if that
surgery saves your life, you wouldnt say the
doctor was bad; youd recognize that the painful
work saved your life.
When God doesn't immediately end your
pain, he is saying to you in that moment, "This
pain may feel like too much. But my grace is
sufficient for you."
I've had a lot of pain in my life. And,
in fact, almost everything I've learned in
life, Ive learned through pain. Thats
because God is more interested in making me a man of
character than he is in making me comfortable. God is
more interested in making you a man or woman of
character than he is in making you comfortable. If you
never had any pain or difficulty in your life, you
would never grow to maturity. You don't know God
is all you need until God is all you've got.
My thoughts are nothing like your
thoughts, says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond
anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways and my thoughts higher than your
thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT).
God wants good for your life, even more
than you do. Will you trust him? [Daily
Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
Waiting and Trusting
As Jesus made His way to the home of
Jairus, a crowd was following them. And then,
seemingly out of nowhere, a woman touched the hem of
Jesuss garment. It seemed like no big deal. That
is, until Jesus suddenly stopped and asked,
Who touched my robe? (Mark 5:30 NLT).
How easily Jairus could have said,
Hey, hold on. Hes with Me. After all, his
12-year-old daughter was sick, and he had tried
everything he could to get her better. Then he heard
that Jesus was nearby.
We dont know whether Jairus believed
in Jesus at this point. Obviously, Jairus was a
Jewish spiritual leader, but apparently, he
believed that Jesus had the power to heal. So he
approached Christ and made this amazing statement:
My little daughter is dying. Please come and
lay your hands on her; heal her so she can
live (Mark 5:23 NLT).
Now, thats a lot of faith. He thought,
If Jesus can touch her, I know she will be
healed. So when Jesus stopped abruptly and wanted to
know who touched Him, Jairus didnt criticize
Him. Maybe it was because he knew that Jesus
always had time for hurting people.
He had no doubt heard the story of how
Jesus healed the demon-possessed man, whose life
was transformed. Hed probably heard the story
of how they lowered the paralyzed man through
the opening in the roof, and Jesus touched him
and forgave his sin.
So perhaps we could say this was a test
for Jairus. If it was, then Jairus certainly
passed it with flying colors.
Sometimes God doesnt move as quickly
as we want Him to. Yet God says, My thoughts
are nothing like your thoughts. And my ways are
far beyond anything you could imagine (Isaiah
55:8 NLT). His timing is often different than
ours. Thats why we need to remember that
Gods delays are not necessarily His denials.
[Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com]
ILLUSTRATIONS
Learning to Trust the Master
A man and his dog are in the same car.
The dog howls
bright-moon-in-the-middle-of-the-night caterwauling howls. The man pleads,
promising a daily delivery of dog biscuit bouquets if
only the hound will hush. After all, its only
a car wash.
Never occurred to him"ahem, to
me"that the car wash would scare my dog. But it did.
Placing myself in her paws, I can see why. A huge,
noisy machine presses toward us, pounding our
window with water, banging against the door with
brushes. Duck! Were under attack.
Dont panic. The car wash was my
idea. Ive done this before. Its for
our own good. Ever tried to explain a car
wash to a canine? Dog dictionaries are minus the
words brush and detail job. My words fell on
fallen flaps. Nothing helped. She just did what
dogs do; she wailed.
Actually, she did what we do. Dont we
howl? Not at car washes perhaps but at hospital
stays and job transfers. Let the economy go south
or the kids move north, and we have a wail of a
time. And when our Master explains whats
happening, we react as if hes speaking Yalunka. We
dont understand a word he says.
Is your world wet and wild?
Gods greatest blessings often come
costumed as disasters. Any doubters need to do
nothing more than ascend the hill of Calvary.
Jerusalems collective opinion that
Friday was this: Jesus is finished.
Such is the view of the disciples, the
opinion of the friends, and the outlook of the
enemies. Label it the dog-in-the-passenger-seat
view.
The Master who sits behind the wheel
thinks differently. God is not surprised. His plan
is right on schedule. Even in"especially
in"death, Christ is still the king, the king over his
own crucifixion.
Cant he do the same for you? Cant
he turn your Friday into a Sunday?
Some of you doubt it. How can God use
cancer or death or divorce? Simple.
Hes smarter than we are. He is to you
what I was to four-year-old Amy. I met her at a
bookstore. She asked me if I would sign her
childrens book. When I asked her name, she watched as
I began to write, To Amy
She stopped me right there. With wide
eyes and open mouth, she asked, How did you
know how to spell my name?
She was awed. You arent. You know the
difference between the knowledge of a child and an
adult. Can you imagine the difference between the
wisdom of a human and the wisdom of God? What is
impossible to us is like spelling Amy to him.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are My ways higher than your ways and My
thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:9).
I keep taking Molly to the car wash.
Shes howling less. I dont think she
understands the machinery. Shes just learning to
trust her master. Maybe well learn the same.
[Max Lucado Daily Devotional at maxlucado.com]
The Observatory
A few mornings back I was jogging through
my neighborhood, and even I could not miss the
significance of that day. It was the first day of
school.
It was no surprise to me, then, to see a
pretty little girl step out of her house wearing
new clothes and a backpack. Have a great
first day of school, I greeted as I jogged
past.
She stopped and looked at me as if Id
pulled a rabbit out of a hat. How did you
know?!
She was stunned. Somehow I had
miraculously discerned why she was up so early and where
she was going. And she was impressed.
Oh, I just know those kind of
things, I shouted back to her. (No need to burst her
bubble.)
You, on the other hand, are not so easily
impressed. You understand the difference between a
child and a grownup. Take the difference between
the girl and me, amplify it a million times
over, and we begin to see the contrast between us
and our Father.
We ask for grace, only to find
forgiveness already offered. (How did you know I would
sin?)
We ask for food, only to find provision
already made. (How did you know I would be hungry?)
We ask for guidance, only to find answers
in Gods ancient story. (How did you know
what I would ask?)
God dwells in a different realm. The
foolishness of God is higher than human wisdom, and the
weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1
Cor. 1:25). He occupies another dimension. My
thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are
not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts
(Isa. 55:8"9). [Max Lucado Daily Devotional at
maxlucado.com]
I spent four decades praying a prayer
Jesus didnt want to answer. My prayer was
framed by what I knew was possible, not by reliance
on the limitless creativity of Jesus. The
always faithful One knew He should ignore my idea
and go with His own plan!
A strip club stood at the edge of town, a
disturbing first impression. Its presence was a
constant reminder of the depravity of humankind,
destructive choices, threats to marriages, and a host of
other ungodly activities. My prayer? Lord, would
you burn that place to the ground? One lightning
strike is all it would take.
Storms - and years - came and went.
Nothing.
Then Jesus showed His Hand.
First, several women from our church were
impressed to show love to the women who worked at the
club, many of them convinced they had no other
option. The miraculous began to unfold. The heart of
the owner softened, changing dramatically. He
asked our church if we would buy the property from
him. It wasnt the legacy he wanted to leave
for his kids.
So our church bought a strip club. The
acreage will one day be a hub of ministry lifting up
the name of Jesus. Hes redeeming even the
soil on which the building once stood.
If Id had my way, a lightning bolt
might have gotten the glory, and insurance would
have been provided to rebuild depravity. Instead,
Jesus had a radical plan of redemption in mind.
What a story its making for His glory! by
Cynthia Ruchti
Faith Step: Have you asked Jesus to frame
your prayers for a long-held need? Today
surrender your brilliant solution to His better idea.
[Mornings With Jesus 2020 Devotional by Guideposts and
Zondervan]
CLOSING THOUGHT
The Grand Choreographer
My friend, Pastor Randy, got a phone call
one morning from a lady who sounded pretty
distraught. She asked if he would pray for her, so they
set up an appointment at Randys church. Her
story was indeed heart-rending. She had been
studying two years to become a nurse. But when she
took the final exam to receive her license, she
didnt pass. She was crushed.
But the other part of her story was even
worse. She had recently learned the devastating
news that her husband had been unfaithful to
their marriage vows.
Her anguish spoke to Randys heart and
he prayed earnestly for her. For courage. For
hope. For friends who would come alongside her.
That God would give her the gift of forgiveness.
That the Holy Spirit would fulfill His promise
and be her Comforter.
In a few days she called again. She had
found courage from Pastor Randys prayers and
she wondered if they could meet again, but this
time could he bring someone else with him to join
them. He promised to try.
Providentially, the pastor was conducting
a series of prayer classes in his church and
he asked the group if any of them could
accompany him the next morning. Eight of the class
members volunteered. He decided to take them all.
After the rest of the class had left the seminar
Pastor Randy explained briefly about the situation
so they could pray intelligently for this very
troubled lady.
After he described some of the details,
one of the volunteers timidly raised her hand
and said, Pastor, about two years ago I
learned that my husband was having an on-going
affair with his secretary. I thought Id die. But
Id be willing to share with this lady how the
grace of God got me through. I know our situations
are different but maybe my healing can encourage
her. Pastor Randy thought to himself, Isnt
it amazing how God brought this lady to our
group today to bless someone whose story we
didnt even know yet.
A second lady from the group raised her
hand and said, Pastor, Im a member of the
State Board of Licensing for nurses. I dont
know what questions will be on her exam when she
re-takes it of course, but I do know some things that
will help her prepare. And Ill be glad to
coach her through her prep timeI am confident I
can help her get ready for the exam so she can
pass next time. And she did. And she did.
As Randy told that story I was struck
again with Gods care " and His guidance.
About how He had just the right people in the
right place at the right time. I think they call
that choreography. God has a different
explanation: Before they call I will answer.
Weve read that promise before, havent we? By
Don Jacobsen; NAD Prayer Ministries
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY
Isaiah 55:8, 9 - Good Ideas OR God Ideas -
Is There A Difference?
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2016/20160410-1713.html
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
https://abible.com/links/
