July 10, 2024

Isaiah 55.8, 9 (NIV)

“For my thought 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.”

With all the resources in the world, I can’t Google what God thinks.*

No matter how in tune you might be with another person, your thoughts are still your thoughts and his thoughts are his thoughts. You may have been in the same place at the same time, living the same experience, but there will still be differences in how you process it. I have twin sons who are proof of it. From birth to pre-school, they shared almost every moment of every day and they appeared to have the same reactions to their experiences, but they never heard each other’s thoughts. From kindergarten, when they were placed in separate classes, through the rest of their lives, they began to have more independent experiences. Today, in their 30s, they have similar interests but have chosen different career paths and wives who are often more different than alike. While there is a lot of intuition involved in their relationship, there is no ESP!

If two people with all things equal can’t have the same thoughts, how much less should we expect to read God’s mind. In these verses, Isaiah reminds us of the “difference and distance between God and man.”*  We will never have his perspective - perfect and far-removed.

 

While the Prophet Isaiah questioned our ability to know God’s thoughts, the Apostle Paul gives us some clues as to how it can be done. One of those clues is found in Romans 12.2: “Do not conform any more to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Emphasis added.)  

As we have focused on his ability to identify with us, people’s view of God has diminished. If God’s thoughts are not higher than ours . . . then they hold no supremacy over other teachings and philosophies and are not worthy of our study and application.*