Have you ever realized that God doesn’t think like you? His ways are different than our ways and His thoughts are different than our thoughts, and this truth should lead us to worship.
“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
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Transcript: Hi, welcome to Five Minutes With Pastor Lutzer. Once again, I’m so glad that you have joined us as we continue our study of the attributes of God. And today we’re considering His unsearchability. The passage of Scripture comes to us from the book of Isaiah chapter 55, verse 8 and 9: “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 my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”
And let me ask you a question. Have you ever realized that God doesn’t think like you do? Have you ever realized that there are times when we think we know what a good God should do, and He doesn’t do it? His ways are different from our ways. His thoughts are different than our thoughts; and what we need to do is to trust Him even when life makes no sense.
Now if we were to read a couple of verses after the verses that I have just read, what we’d discover is that God is talking about His word. He said, “So is the word that goes out of my mouth,” He says, “it’s like snow, it’s like rain; and it accomplishes the purpose to which I have sent it.” And we don’t understand those purposes and we do not know how God’s word does what it does—mystery. But we trust God, even though we know that His thoughts are so much higher than ours.
Recently, I was listening to a sermon by John McArthur, entitled “A Theology of Sleep.” What he was talking about is Mark chapter 4, where there is a parable that is told nowhere else in the New Testament. Jesus said that there was a sower who goes out to sow. He plants seed and then he goes home and he sleeps. And of course he gets up in the morning and then sleeps again, and the grain begins to grow. But he has no idea how that happens. That’s the mystery. Those are the kinds of thoughts that God keeps to Himself.
You know, as a farm boy, I remember going out in the field, and we would plant a grain of wheat. Of course we’d plant a whole field of wheat, but one single grain planted could bring as many as 30 or 40 kernels once we harvested it in the fall. How does that happen? I have no idea. That’s the way the word of God works.
In fact, Jesus gives another example. He talks about the wind. He mentioned this to Nicodemus and said that the wind blows wherever it wills, and you don’t understand it. Of course, today meteorologists give us a better idea when we can expect wind, but the simple fact is, we don’t understand all of the changes of nature. And just like I had no control over my first birth, in a sense, I don’t have any control over my second birth—except that I do believe on Jesus—but the wind blows wherever it wills. The sovereignty of God. And God keeps saying again and again, “My way is not your way, my thoughts are not your thoughts.”
Can we trust God? Does He know more than we do? Absolutely. He knows a great deal more than we do. And when we are confronted with those mysteries for which we have no explanation—why does one child follow the Lord and another not? There are so many mysteries connected to this world and all of its vicissitudes—what we do is, we believe God’s word and trust Him to do what He has promised in accordance with His way. I stand in absolute awe of the sovereignty of God, and it’s very clear that His thoughts are not my thoughts, nor are His ways my ways.
What do I want you to do today? I want you to sow some seed, and then I want you to sleep well, believing that the word of God is gonna do its work—work that we do not understand—of shining light into darkness and saving people, converting them, all because of God’s ways with us. We don’t have to understand it to believe it, to trust Him. So today, once again, sleep well; but scatter some seed first. Thanks so much for joining us, and join us again next time; and today, go with God.