God's ways and man's ways

Some Christians won’t admit this, but I can certainly declare that this is true in my own life: there have been times when God makes absolutely no sense to me.  I was thoroughly convinced that God was going handle a situation in a particular way and He ended up going in a completely different route.  Further, it was a route that seemed illogical to me.  His direction left me confused, bewildered, and perplexed.

Have you ever been there?  You were sure that God was going to give you that job promotion, as you were overly qualified for it, but instead it went to someone else.  Or perhaps you lost your job and you have done everything you can think of to get new employment, but for some reason, God hasn’t opened the door.  Or maybe you seemed to have an assurance from God that He was going to heal your friend from a gripping physical ailment, but instead your friend died.  You get the picture.  You thought God was going to go one way, but instead He went in another way altogether, and it shocked you.  What do we do in these situations when God makes absolutely no sense to us?

In Isaiah 55, God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.”  I own a precious cat named Belle.  She is my faithful companion.  Wherever I go, she goes.  Recently, I was playing a video game and, of course, Belle was right there with me watching me play.  It occurred to me that my cat had absolutely no idea why I was holding a controller and looking so intently at a TV screen.  Furthermore, if I stopped and explained to her what I was doing or why I was doing it, she wouldn’t get it.  My thoughts and ways are higher than hers.  I think that’s an example of how we are with the Lord.  If God stopped and explained what He was doing and why He was doing it, we wouldn’t comprehend a single word of it.

In those times when I became perplexed, even angry, at the way God is moving in my life, I have discovered that the best thing to do is to submit to His way.  One of my favorite preachers, Michael Youssef, recently said in a sermon that when God’s plan differs from ours, the best course of action is to realize that God’s plan is far superior.  Once again, this doesn’t mean that I’m ever going to understand why God intervened the way He did.  Even so, I can simply choose to believe that God had a better course of action in mind than I did.  Is this easy?  No, absolutely not.  But I truly feel that this is better than trying to ascertain God’s ways, something He clearly says I cannot do.

Kevin

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” - Proverbs 3:5