“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8 NIV
As with most scripture, when a verse begins with the word ‘for’, we are directed to look at the verse before it for context. The verse before this says “Let the wicked forsake their days and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” Isaiah 55:7 NIV
This verse talks about how man, who is born with a sinful nature, should be aware of their thoughts and actions. That they should return to the Lord because the Lord is righteous, not like man. The verse for today is giving the reason for man to turn from their wickedness and either turn or return to the Lord, because He is different than us, mightier than us.
I am so thankful that unlike man, the Lord is willing to forgive and pardon because His ways are not the same as our ways. We are unforgiving, we hold grudges, we count wrongs. God is forgiving, He forgets our sins once He has forgiven them and since He forgets them, He doesn’t count them again.
God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts because He is the Creator. He is the One Who put this world, universe and galaxy into being. Clearly our thoughts can not be like His, we are not God. In as much as our thoughts are not like His thoughts, our ‘ways’ are different. His ‘ways’ are not sinful like ours. He created the world to be perfect and we, as humans, messed that up.
‘My thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not My ways.’ We know the Lord’s thoughts are mightier than ours, again we did not have the idea to create an entire world, which means that His ways of doing things are mightier than ours as well. Our ways, how we think something should be done, pale in comparison to how God believes them to be done. The act of forgiving is a beautiful example. God forgives when we come with a genuine repenting heart, where we have been known to withhold forgiveness from another who has genuinely admitted their mistake and asked for forgiveness.
Today, I pray that each one of us would look at our thoughts and the way we do things, compare them to how God wants them thought about and done before we commit to them. If we are taking our thoughts and comparing them to what the Bible, God’s word, says they should be, then we can change our thoughts. If we take how we believe things should be done and compare them to what the Bible says is the way they should be done, then we can change our ways as well.
It all takes time, prayer and willingness to change. Are you willing to commit to the time it takes to change?