Introduction

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; 

call upon him while he is near; 

let the wicked forsake his way, 

and the unrighteous man his thoughts; 

let him return to the Lord, 

that he may have compassion on him, 

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, 

declares the Lord. 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways 

and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

(Isaiah 55:6-9) 

I remember the first time I heard a message preached on these verses many years ago. I recall thinking, “Oh dear! How in the world am I going to learn God’s ways or His thoughts?” But over the years, God revealed Himself to me, and I am eternally grateful. 

It may surprise you that God does things differently than we do; or more accurately, that we do things differently than God. Why is that? Aren’t we made in God’s image? Yes, we are, but consider not only has God been around a lot longer than us, He is omniscient and holy, and we are not. Our time of existence is a grain of sand compared to God’s eternal existence. Oh, and we have a rebellious, sin-scarred nature. So, there’s that. 

As our Creator and provider of salvation, He has our eternal best interests in mind. And us? We have our temporal best interests in mind. Sure, He takes care of our needs here in this life, watches over us, protects us, gives us His Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us, and so on. Even so, our thinking isn’t like His, our ways of doing things aren’t either. In Scripture we are told: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6-9)

That’s quite a contrast between His thoughts and ways and our thoughts and ways. Even though we have free wills, He already knows what we will do. Even though we may stray from the path of righteousness, He has a plan to nudge us back on it. Even though we will become discouraged or even heartbroken, He already has others waiting to come along side us and encourage us to keep our eyes heavenward. 

There are many excellent examples throughout the Bible demonstrating God’s ways in contrast to man’s ways. Sometimes God is silent; sometimes He is very vocal. Sometimes He intervenes in our lives; sometimes He doesn’t. Sometimes we understand what He is doing to accomplish His will; sometimes we have no idea what God is up to. God will deal with different people in different ways; with different nations in different ways. We tend to watch the calendar hoping God will do something spectacular; God doesn’t need a calendar; He does what He chooses to do, when He chooses to do it. 

One of the more perplexing examples of God’s ways is how He dealt (and continues to deal) with His chosen people, the nation of Israel. Again and again in the Old Testament, God blessed and protected them – and over and over they rebelled against Him, and they received His punishment. He sent prophets to preach against them, and they ignored them or beat them and killed them. 

He gave them kings as they demanded, but most failed in leadership and turned His people away from Him. He allowed them to be defeated at the hand of their enemies, to the point of being carried away into slavery, anticipating they would turn back to Him. Some did, but most did not. So, He sent His only begotten Son to deliver His message to them, and what did they do? They rejected Him and demanded He be put to death for blasphemy. Was this God’s plan all along? Yes. Did His chosen people know it? Absolutely not. In fact, He intentionally blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts because of their rebellion.

“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn (repent), and I would heal them.” Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” (John 12:36-43)

Do you ever think about why such a small percentage of people come to Christ for eternal life? We know this is true because the Bible talks of the “few” and the “many:” “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14). Is it because we are easily deceived? Is it because we don’t want to be told what to do? 

Even though God surrounds His creation with beauty and wonder, and opportunities to realize He is real, the majority still make poor choices. He is not going to force anyone to love Him, obey Him, or worship Him. 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”(Romans 1:18-32)

And: “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

It’s almost mind-boggling to consider that after God shows Himself and His power to humanity, they still reject truth, worship false gods, and commit wickedness. We’re told that because of their choices and behavior, God “gave them up to a debased mind,” and “God sends them a strong delusion,” making it almost impossible to turn to Christ. Of course, nothing is impossible with God, but our sinful nature and free will can make a choice for Christ extremely challenging. 

If you had the power to do it, would you intentionally allow an illness or disability (including suffering) to someone you love? No? Well God does. Over and over we read that God allows trials and tribulations in the lives of His children, to purify their faith and strengthen their resolve to live for Christ. Does that sound fair? Unfortunately, our concept of “fair” has little to do with God’s ways. Scripture tells us that God will accomplish His purposes for His children in His way; not theirs. God’s desire is to mold us into the image of holiness for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake; our part is to submit, trust, and grow in our faith in Christ.  

Rather than spending our time asking God “why” He is doing things this way or that way, why not spend our time asking God to reveal His perfect will, and give us the power to carry it out for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake? We have the Holy Spirit living within us. Death and hell have already been defeated. We serve a risen savior. Eternity with the King of the Universe Who has prepared unimaginable things for His children, is more than we could ever dream of. 

Throughout Scripture, God’s thoughts and ways are higher because:

1. His wisdom is infinite.

• Humans see only part of the picture.

• God sees the beginning and the end.

2. His purposes are greater than ours.

• Events that seem confusing or painful may fit into a larger plan that we cannot yet see.

3. His moral perfection surpasses ours.

• God’s judgments are perfectly just.

• His love and mercy are deeper than human love and mercy.

This theme appears elsewhere in the Scriptures; for example: 

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)

In summary, God’s ways are higher than ours because His wisdom, knowledge, purposes, and mercy are infinitely greater than human understanding. In Isaiah 55, the emphasis is especially on the surprising greatness of God’s mercy toward repentant sinners.

This book is designed to expose the reader to the multiplicity of God’s ways, including His holiness, righteousness, love and mercy, justice and truth, faith and trust, and how to be blessed through obedience. And finally, how Jesus Christ is the perfect fulfillment of all of God’s ways. 

May our Lord Jesus Christ be praised and honored and glorified by all that we say, all that we think, and all that we do.