For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith 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)

I learned these verses in my early years as a Christian. I have heard them quoted often, and I have spoken them many times, either to others or to myself. I am not always sure if they are comforting words or if they are confounding words. Intellectually, I know that God’s thoughts and ways are not like mine. Of course my ways are not like God’s, God is God and I am not. But when I go down a path that seems to make so much sense to me, then out of nowhere, the course dramatically changes: I must admit that I am more confounded than comforted. There are times when we pray for things or people and our prayers are answered just as we prayed them. Then, there are times when we pray and our prayers seem to go unheard, with no answer at all. We can usually handle both extremes because God is God and He can act as He pleases

But what about those times when we pray about something specifically, and we clearly see God’s hand in it? We pray, God leads and we are getting it. We can even see what is coming as God reveals things to us. Our faith is being increased and we are finally gaining some spiritual strength and understanding. Even though the course is tough, we are making steady progress. But… then… out of the blue, something happens that changes our course so drastically that we feel the air has been knocked out of us. All of sudden, we find ourselves in a place of desolation and despair. What happened? It seemed like everything was moving along so well.

It is in these moments that we all must glean a deeper understanding that God’s thoughts and ways are not ours. God does not play by our rules and God is never in a rush. Keep one thing in mind today as you meditate on these verses. Our Lord loves us more than we can ever comprehend and everything He does is in our best interest. His main desire for us is that we are His, totally and completely. Do you feel as though God has abandoned you or maybe has just forgotten about your needs? Ask Him to help you understand more of His ways. Ask Him to open your mind to comprehend the Scriptures. Go to Him, repent if you have un-confessed sin and trust that His higher ways will always be what is best.

As I read this I was reminded of O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What an example in scripture of today’s verse. They knew in whom they believed and nothing or no one could change that and although they were faithful to God, they were still thrown into the fire but in the midst of the fire God was faithful. God sent a fourth, that was like the Son of God and when they came out of the fire, that is key, they came out, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Remember this when you are facing a giant, when your path seems unclear, remember, He is faithful that promised! You be faithful to Him and watch how you come out from the fire. He is the same God yesterday, today and forever. If He did it then He can and will do it today!!! Don’t be afraid of the fire, trust Him to walk hand in hand with you in the midst of the fire. He will never fail you!! What a relief that His thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are my ways His ways for He is far greater than I. God’s ways can be hard to understand at times but that’s okay, we don’t always have to understand, we just have to trust Him and His ways. 

Have a wonderful day in The Lord!

Today’s Reading is Daniel 3:13-30