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 55:8-9 (ESV)]
Our old friend Joe recently visited. Along with our friend Ric, he and my husband were partners in a manufacturing business in another state many years ago. Once a year, the three men would meet away from the business (with its phone calls and constant interruptions) to discuss their short-term and long-term business goals. While Ric and my husband were the legal, financial, and sales parts of the business, as a processing engineer, Joe oversaw manufacturing.
Although Joe is a genius when it comes to engineering, electronics, production, and machinery, the innovative thinker had difficulty verbalizing his long-range manufacturing plans to his technology and machinery-challenged partners. Often unable to visualize what Joe had in mind, they sometimes had difficulty understanding his reasoning behind wanting to alter existing equipment, create new machinery, remove or install racks, re-arrange the factory, revise old procedures, or inaugurate new ones. Joe, however, knew exactly what he was doing. Inevitably, a new system would be in place that always resulted in faster and more efficient production, a better-quality product, and a safer work place for their employees. Although my husband and Ric didn’t fully comprehend Joe’s proposals, they knew there always was a method to what sometimes appeared to be madness. Having faith in Joe’s expertise and knowing his concern was for the welfare of their business and employees, they simply had to trust Joe to do his job in the factory while they did theirs in the office!
Just as my husband and Ric rarely understood Joe’s visions, we often have difficulty understanding what God is doing in our lives. We tend to be creatures of habit and prefer doing things the old familiar way rather than learning a new and better way. God, however, is never satisfied with our just being OK; He has great plans for us—to give us “a future and a hope.”
The words of Isaiah 55:8-9 remind us that we must put our complete trust in God; His ways always are better than our own. Because He loves us, we can know that everything in His plans is for our greater good. It’s rarely easy to understand why things (both pleasant and unpleasant) happen the way they do. Nevertheless, it all is part of God’s plan—a plan we cannot fully comprehend. It is only in hindsight that we finally understand why our lives took the twists and turns they did.
Looking back, I see how various difficulties and challenges caused me to mature in my faith, develop character and strength, and become more patient, peaceful, and thankful. Those changes and the circumstances that caused them (most of which I didn’t appreciate at the time) enabled me to withstand the challenges of today. Moreover, the troubles of today will empower me to better withstand the challenges that are sure to arrive tomorrow or the day after. Just as Joe transformed the factory and its manufacturing processes, God wants to transform and perfect us. Let us trust Him even more than Ric and my husband trusted Joe!
Father, thank you for transforming our lives so that we can grow more like Christ. Forgive us when we rebel and question your plan. Remind us to look back and reflect on the many blessings we’ve received that originally came packaged as trouble, sorrow, and difficulty. Thank you for never giving up on us.
Faith looks back upon the past, for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. She remembers that God has never failed her. … Therefore faith…can say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!” [Charles Spurgeon]
Just finishing its 5th season, the Food Network’s “Outrageous Pumpkins” features remarkable pumpkin artistry. This year’s competition matched up 14 of the nation’s best carvers into teams and challenged them to create over-the-top pumpkin creations. The pumpkin artists created horrific nightmares, constructed grisly crime scenes, and fashioned monstrous mechanical battling beasts. Using everything from melon ballers to huge saws, they they sculpted extraordinary and intricate ghouls, witches, wizards, goblins, werewolves, and monsters. As someone who is severely pumpkin-challenged (and eventually purchased a permanent Jack O-Lantern complete with an electric light), I’m amazed by the skill of these artists.
Pope Francis recently visited Singapore and, when speaking to young people at an interfaith meeting, he is reported to have said “All religions are paths to God.” After comparing the various religions to “different languages that express the divine,” he added, “There is only one God, and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sheik, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and they are different paths [to God].” While the pontiff was encouraging interfaith dialogue, his words are troubling. I will not presume to know the Pope’s meaning or intention with his comments. Nevertheless, I find it important to address how the world understood the pontiff’s message.
Hebrews 11 lists the great examples of faith found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Every story, however, has a supporting cast and, while we may not remember or even know their names, they played an important role in everyone’s story. We know Moses is one of those heroes of faith but what of the midwives Shiphrah and Puah? If they hadn’t defied Pharaoh’s orders to kill newborn Hebrew boys, Moses wouldn’t have lived long enough to be found by Pharaoh’s daughter let alone lead Israel to the Promised Land!
In the Gospel stories of the two miraculous catches of fish, experience told the disciples that fishing in the light of day was the wrong time and casting a net from the right side of the boat was the wrong way to do it. Nevertheless, that’s exactly how Jesus told them to fish. If we look at those stories more figuratively, we see that night time was man’s time and the boat’s left side was man’s way. Those miraculous catches, however, tell us that the right time is whenever God says it is and the right way is however God says it’s to be done!
Because the pastor’s sermon was about being thankful, she’d selected “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” as the evening’s opening hymn. Henry Alford wrote this hymn in 1844 for village harvest festivals in England called Harvest Home. Rural churches would celebrate the harvest by decorating with pumpkins and autumn leaves, collecting the harvest bounty, and then distributing it to the needy. Because of its seasonal harvest imagery, we usually sing this hymn in November at Thanksgiving but this was mid-July! Reading the hymn’s words out of their traditional Thanksgiving context, I understood their meaning in an entirely different way.
Devotions of the Heart 