6 Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
12 “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13 “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,
And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,
And [e]it will be a [f]memorial to the Lord,
For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”
As I was reading verse 8 again, a thought came into my mind, “Thanks God that His thoughts are higher than mine, and His ways higher than mine!” Now that seems a different angle than we usually take with this passage, and that verse in particular.
We often say something like, “Well, life is hard, we have trials and struggles, but need to trust God, because His way is better and higher than ours…” Or we might say, “We need to go God’s way instead of our own, because His way is better.” Now, both of those are valid, but look back at the preceding verses. If we were God, would we stay near a bunch of folks who rebel against us? Would we forgive the wicked and the unrighteous after all they’ve been selfish and disobedient?
More likely, we would flood the earth again, because we can’t keep our promises, and those impudent humans don’t deserve it anyway! We certainly wouldn’t sacrifice ourselves for their mistakes, would we? And would we be listening 24/7 on the off chance someone remembers that we want to talk with them? I don’t think so!
Yet God does send the rain and snow to water the earth, even though winter will come, it will grow barren, and He’ll have to do it over again next year. Likewise does He pour out His grace and compassion in our lives, sometimes in a gentle rain of refreshing, and other times in a roaring flood to get our attention.
His word and His plan will be accomplished, period. And it is higher, better, more incredible than we know. As it says in v. 12, we should therefore “go out with joy, and be led forth with peace…” The mountains and the hills, and all of creation already proclaim the splendor and faithfulness of God. How much more should we, who are made in His image, to bear His likeness to a people lost in the shadow of sin?
The life God creates, in nature, and in us, is indeed a “memorial to the LORD, and everlasting sign which will not be cut off.” Remember His goodness today, and give Him thanks that His plans are so incredibly beyond us!