by David Brenneman
Oh this verse:
Isaiah 55:8-9 NASB "“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor 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."
There was something of a phrase I remember "God gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him".
We are born with the idea of thinking we can understand the who, what, where, when and why's of situations and people in life. Countless thousands of books have been written proving that claim.
Yet only 1 book in all human history has proven that humanity knows not what it thinks it does, that only God truly understands everything about everything.
We want to believe that we have figured out this or that. That we have a handle on what's really best for ourselves or others.
We even think we know exactly what it is we're going to be doing. We think that our well thought out plans and ideas are worth pursuing. That what we see is the best it will be.
Then there's that verse again.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NASB "“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor 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."
We have been hurt so we look for, seek out, solutions so that it doesn't happen again. We see others hurt and try to do the same.
We seek out what hurts us the least.
But what about the thoughts of Jesus concerning what is best for you and I?
We've returned many times in recent weeks to "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 NASB.
We have read 2 Thessalonians 4:3, that God's will is our sanctification. That work He’s doing in us is to make us like Himself.
Our best plans in life might not be that same plan He has for our lives.
I have, on more than one occasion, tried accumulating things for projects. Ideas that I had to build this or that and God allowed me to do it. I ended up frustrated because things that I didn't know or account for came up.
Many know that passage of "I know the plans that I have for you...". God's plans for those in the body of Christ aren't necessarily for personal satisfaction or prosperity or even health. His plans are for what He placed us in the body as He saw fit, to do that specific work, for His Kingdom.
Many of my thoughts and ideas I have I honestly believe could change humanity on a global scale. God says no. It's not part of His plans for mankind.
Some ideas that I have aren't so grand in scale and He still says no, the time isn't right. These aren't the Earth shatteringly large ideas, just personal ones.
We see, hear and smell and try to reason out things based on those senses. Sometimes we even think we are doing the best that we know how. But even with all that, the best doesn't happen.
We still on some level find disappointment. We want our plans and ideas to work out. I certainly would love to see even one of my grand scale ideas happen.
The thing is, our purpose. It comes back to our purpose. God indeed may still grant our desires, but as the Scriptures say, His purposes will stand. Our purpose is what we have been placed in the body of Christ to be doing. It must come first, not second, not in tandem with other things. First. We must be true to our first, best, destiny. Doing what we do as unto the Lord. Colossians 3:23-24.
As an example, many decades ago, I was wanting a specific computer. Essentially for the very same reasons that I wanted one now. I scraped up the money back then and got one back then. It didn't last long. I had no group of people like I have today to help figure out how to fix it. So I gave up and threw it away. It was my plans and idea. But not God's timing. I was so hesitant to let go. But finally did.
It wasn't that God had provided and failed somehow. It was me getting ahead of God.
I, sadly, and maybe you do too have a history of getting ahead of God. Of pursuing your plans in life without asking Jesus if they are right to be pursued.
Sometimes we do indeed, like that opening picture, need to let go in order to find that which Jesus intended for us to have.
What changed in my life that many things that I sought after for years has happened? In October of last year something significant really happened. It's roots began a long time ago. We prayed in earnest to know if we should take a leap of faith. I asked for Godly counsel concerning it. I was asked a simple question. Was where we were bringing about our sanctification? No it wasn't and hadn't for over 20 years. Would where we would be going bring about our sanctification? Yes. So amazingly fast, God worked out every detail of our lives to move us, employee me, that it's been incredible. Fascinating even. We got moved, had already chosen a church. Began attending, connecting, growing in our sanctification.
Over and over again things began happening that we honestly had been wanting in our old hometown that God kept saying no to began happening here.
God's plan and purpose for you and I must be first on our priorities. A no today doesn't necessarily mean a no forever. It might mean letting go right now to make room for what He's really intending for you.
This is more than about possessions. It's not that. It's more than that.
We have to let go of anything that we have elevated to importance that's not what God has in mind for us in the here and now.
Everything from ideas to plans because of not just that passage in Isaiah but in Proverbs. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. The mind of man plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps.
We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them. Take up your own cross and follow Me.
God's plans for you and I must come before our plans for you and I. Our sanctification comes before all other things. We can easily justify our thinking and planning. But do we ask Him if we should?
We don't know what He knows. We don't understand as He understands. We don't walk as we should because we justify so much in our lives. That we might even be doing in Jesus name but isn't of God.
We put value on what isn't valued in God's plans. Ouch.
We who are in Christ Jesus are placed as He sees fit in His body. Romans 12.
We have a purpose in the body of Christ. To do two things. Grow in Christ and to do our part for the Kingdom of God. Our sanctification and His plans for mankind as spelled out in the Bible are what's going on in your life and mine.
We do indeed have desires of our hearts. Psalm 37:4 NASB "Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart." goes easily and well with "Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB. . A modern melding of these is "God gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him".
Will you trust God to let go of anything that you are holding on to in order to see what He has in mind for you?
Will you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness?
Will you let go of even the pains and hurts of your past? Those hold you back just as much as holding onto present ideas and plans we have that aren't His.
Indeed, you will need to let go, trust God and see what He really has in mind for you.
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