My thoughts are not your thoughts declares the Lord

It is human nature that we seek out those who agree with us, who have the same beliefs and practices. That’s our comfort zone. And we tend to avoid those who don’t think or act like we do.

Someone once said, “Most people don’t want to hear the truth, they just want reassurance that what they already believe is the truth.”

In Isaiah 55 the prophet tells us to to seek someone who does not think like us or act like us. That someone is God:

“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; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 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.” (Isaiah 55:6-9, ESV)

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts. But still Isaiah urges us to seek him and call upon him.

A couple of passages from Scripture illustrate how God’s ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians was written when he was in prison. I’m sure as the prison doors slammed behind him Paul was wondering how this all fit into God’s plan. And yet, Paul’s imprisonment turned out to be a blessing:

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, [13] so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. [14] And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Philippians 1:12-14, ESV)

Paul’s imprisonment meant advancement for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That was more important to Paul than his personal safety.

In addition, Paul’s fellow Christians outside the prison became confident in the Lord by Paul’s imprisonment and were much more bold to speak God’s Word without fear. (If going to prison is what would make people more bold to speak God’s Word without fear I might be willing to consider it.)

The parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 20 is another illustration of how God’s ways are not our ways. The master of a house goes out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. They agree on a wage and get to work. But the master needs more help so he keeps hiring more workers throughout the day. The last group of workers he hires at the eleventh hour so they only work one hour before it’s time to quit.

At the end of the day the master tells his foreman to call in the laborers and pay them their wages. Everything in this parable has been believable and understandable according to our way of thinking up to this point. Now it gets interesting.

The master has the foreman pay the workers in the reverse order of their hiring. The ones who worked only one hour get paid first and they are paid a denarius, the amount that the master had agreed to pay those who worked all day. Understandably, when the workers who worked all day saw that those who worked only one hour received a full day’s wage, they thought that they would get more. But they were mistaken. They were paid the same as those who worked just one hour and it did not make them happy.

When they complained about it, the master pointed out that he was not being unfair to them. They got exactly what they agreed to. The only reason they were upset was because the master decided to be generous to those who only worked one hour, something he had every right to do.

Jesus concludes the parable by saying, “So the last will be first and first last.” (Matthew 20:16, ESV)

Can you imagine if an employer tried to do what the master in this parable did? Although there is no law against an employer being generous, if an employer did what the master did in this parable every organization and agency that deals with employment law would be knocking on their door demanding answers.

These are just two examples of stories in the Bible where God has shown that his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. There are many others.

So why should we keep seeking and calling upon God who lets his apostles go to prison and who likes it when the first are last and the last are first?

First, we all have to admit that there are times when we thought our way was the best but it wasn’t. God had a better plan. When we seek God and call upon him, he helps us see how his plans are the best.

Then there are times when our thoughts and ways have been sinful and just plain wrong. In dealing with our sinfulness God again acted in a most unexpected way.

Since sin is breaking God’s commandments, just ignoring our sins and saying they don’t matter was not an option.

So God did something beyond our thoughts. Instead of forcing us to pay for our own sins, God placed all our sins on his own, sinless, beloved Son, Jesus Christ, when Jesus died for us on the cross. As Isaiah says above, when the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts, when they return to the Lord, the Lord will have compassion on them and will abundantly pardon them.

The grace and mercy we have received in Christ is so transformative that it motivates us to reach out to those who are different than us. We are willing to leave our comfort zones to help others experience the love God has for us in Christ.

Even if we have been workers in God’s vineyard our entire lives there are still going to be times when we don’t understand God’s ways. But one thing will always be clear; in Christ we have complete pardon for all our sins.

Kirk Griebel is a Lutheran pastor and author from Owatonna. His blog is mirrorneurons.blog and his email is kirk.griebel@gmail.com