11^th March

“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 My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

If God is the creator of all life, all matter, the animals in the sea and those that walk on the earth, the world we live in and everything in it (including us!), then why do we insist on living life our way? So often, many join in with Frank Sinatra’s famous song lyrics and declare that they will live their lives their own way or ‘MY WAY’, as Frank put it. Sadly, this becomes more than just song lyrics but a lifestyle choice and decision to put ‘me’ first and everything else secondary. We say as long as we look after ‘number one’ (a reference to one’s self) then all else will be fine.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth as the nation of Israel found out during their time of persecution. They tried to live ‘their way’ and ended up abandoning the one true God who liberated them and chose them as His own people. He offered them life yet they settled for slavery. They exchanged God’s goodness for their own foolish desires. Sounds crazy right…? Yet when we settle for second best and become content in doing things our way, we too exchange the best God has for temporary satisfaction and cheap thrills, which never actually satisfies but rather just leaves us empty (v2).

When we surrender to God’s ways, we can be guaranteed that He knows best. We might not fully understand His ways and sometimes it may be hard to follow but we can take full assurance that it’s the best for us. Isaiah encouraged the troubled Israelites with these words, which we too can take encouragement from, “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” God always knows better because His thoughts are higher than ours, more wiser than ours, He can see the bigger picture and knows the future. What more assurance do you need that God knows best?