GOD'S WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN MINE

Keyword HIGHER: advanced in complexity, development, or elaboration

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 ESV

Our ways. Our thoughts.

What we can see and touch. What we’ve experienced and how we feel.

Most of us make sense of life on these terms. God created us this way. He made us visual, tactile, emotional, human. We exist in limited time and space, on a planet that has days and nights, water and land, seasons and weather and gravity.

And it seems that is how we understand God, too.

We each have a unique image of Jesus based on our experiences, our knowledge, and our relationships. We read about God as a loving father, a king, a righteous judge, a shepherd, a humble baby, a carpenter, a teacher, a loyal friend, a fiery spirit, a risen savior. We picture him in heaven, in a church, or maybe out in nature. And we try to fit him into our own little individual boxes shaped inside of these parameters.

But Jesus wants to remind us that he operates on much different terms than we do. The limits we live within do not apply to him.

I used to read this verse and imagine God so high above this earth that he was a bit removed from what was going on in our lives. Higher thoughts and ways–does that mean he is out of reach? Uninterested? Unavailable?

Actually, it is just the opposite. God’s thoughts and ways don’t separate him from us–they surround and surpass and surprise us. He is before us and behind us, inside of us and all around us. He sees, knows, creates, heals, and redeems in ways that we can’t even imagine. He is all the good things we understand about him and infinitely more.

When we doubt because we cannot see, we can remember that he sees and knows every detail about every single thing.

When we don’t understand why, we can hold onto the one who is in complete control.

When we are feeling rejected, we can lean into his unfailing love and rest in his constant presence.

When we are anxious, worried, and overwhelmed, we can trust him to calm us with his peace.

When we face endings, obstacles, and disappointments, we can remember that we belong to a miracle-working, mountain-moving, grace-lavishing God.

And he is not in any kind of box.

Dear Jesus, thank you for being everywhere, for knowing everything, and for surpassing any force in the universe. Thank you that your higher thoughts and ways bring you closer to me that I can understand. Please help me to trust you with my disappointment today.

TAKE YOUR TICKET

Close your eyes and take a deep breath of Jesus. Let him surround, surpass, and surprise you as you trust in his higher thoughts and ways.