His Ways Are Higher Than Our Ways
“I don’t think the way you
think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I
work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you
think.” (Isaiah 55:8,9)
How would you have
responded? When Thomas Carlyle, a
noted 19th-century historian, was struggling and broke, he poured
his life into writing a massive history of the French Revolution. The book, he felt, would make or break
him. After finally finishing it, he lent
his handwritten manuscript- many hundreds of pages- to a close friend, who
carelessly left it lying about his apartment.
Incredibly, his maid thought it was scrap-paper and used it to light a
fire. (To make matters worse, Carlyle had a habit of destroying his notes after
completing a work). With much
determination, he re-embarked on his historical journey and enhanced his work under
God’s direction to greater measure bringing a masterpiece on paper but more
importantly passing test in his heart.
How do we respond
when life bring challenges in our lives?
Our response will greatly determine the outcome. While difficulties of all types will arise,
we can find God working in the midst of it.
Beekeepers will share
the secrets of the hive and how when the little bee is in the first stage, it
is put into a hexagonal cell and enough honey is stored there for its use until
it reaches maturity. The honey is
sealed with a capsule of wax, and when the tiny bee has fed itself on the honey
and exhausted the supply, the time has come for it to emerge into the
open. But, oh, the wrestle, the tussle,
the straining to get through that wax!
It is the straight gate for the bee, so straight that in the agony of
exit, the bee rubs off the membrane that hid its wings, and on the other side
is able to fly!
The same is true of us.
God places His provision in our midst yet enough struggles to cause us
to grow along the way. “I don’t think the
way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God God’s decree. “For as the sky soars
high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work,and the way I
think is beyond the way you think.”
(Isaiah 55:8,9) Isaiah reminds us
that when life doesn’t make sense, God is still at work. The question is, “How do we face life
when we find a collapse or a trial preceding the final product?” He will gives us what we need.
For more years than
most of us can expect to live, Abraham and Sarah yearned for a child of their
own. God promised them a son, but
even after that, they waited 25 more years before Isaac was actually born. Isaac means laughter, and the joy he brought
his folks is a matter of historical record.
But that joy must have been eclipsed when God commanded Abraham to “take
now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah
Early the next
morning, despite what must have been impenetrable bewilderment, he set out to
obey the Lord. On the third day, he
saw not only the site of the sacrifice but apparently the hope of the
resurrection, too. He told his servants
to wait there while he and his son went to worship the Lord and to return. Here is what God’s Word says to do when, like
Abraham, you don’t yet see through the smoke of your circumstances…
1. Obey the Lord: Do
whatever He says to do; be whatever He says to be. Vetoing or ignoring His commands is always
disastrous.
2. Worship the Lord: Humble yourself before the Lord,
acknowledging His superior wisdom, justice, mercy, and might. We destroy anything we refuse to let Him
rule; we release to God’s miraculous touch anything we surrender to Him.
3. Trust the Lord:
Remember that the Lord’s purposes extend far beyond our eyesight or
understanding. We react to our small
perceptions; the Lord sees not only the beginning but also the end of our
situation. He knows how to use it to
bless multitudes of people for many generations.
God, our course, gave
Abraham a substitutionary sacrifice at the perfect time. And Thomas Carlyle, believed that his
“Invisible Schoolmaster” was saying to rewrite it better. He did.
And while the like the bees, we will be pressed to find our way through
impediment and challenges, He will make a way, where there seems to be no way.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) Can you recall a time when
life burned down to the ground?
2) Do you find the “Invisible
Schoolmaster” to be there?
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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