"I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;"
Isaiah 65:2
This is an interesting chapter. It starts out sad and ends triumphant, and the difference is seen in many places, including here in the second verse. God reaches out to us always. He wants to lead us to the better life spoken of at the end of the chapter, where the wolf and the lamb feed together, and there is no untimely death. But we are pretty rebellious, walking after our own thoughts. And that's pretty understandable, right? What else are we going to rely on besides our own thoughts? ... And the answer is the Lord. As it says in Isaiah 55:9, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
It's hard to think of trading our own thoughts for someone else's guidance, especially when we are in rebel mode, but if we take a step back and think of the trouble that we get ourselves into, and the often abysmal choices that we make when we don't have God in our lives, maybe we can grasp a shred of humility and admit that it is a miraculous blessing that God offers to guide us in our abject blindness. God's way is the only way to that happy ending. We can fight it, and we do SO often, but without more wisdom and knowledge and goodness, we are never going to get where we want to go. God offers us not only guidance, but along the way he teaches us wisdom, and truth, and goodness, so that we can see more clearly and help others to God's salvation too.
Today, let's not believe the lie that we can save ourselves. No matter how intelligent, talented, and beautiful we all are (and we can be pretty dang cool sometimes, I admit), we still need God... need him desperately. Let's turn to the only one who knows us better than we know ourselves, and who knows how to guide us to a better life and a better world. Let's walk after God's thoughts.
Isaiah 65:2
This is an interesting chapter. It starts out sad and ends triumphant, and the difference is seen in many places, including here in the second verse. God reaches out to us always. He wants to lead us to the better life spoken of at the end of the chapter, where the wolf and the lamb feed together, and there is no untimely death. But we are pretty rebellious, walking after our own thoughts. And that's pretty understandable, right? What else are we going to rely on besides our own thoughts? ... And the answer is the Lord. As it says in Isaiah 55:9, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
It's hard to think of trading our own thoughts for someone else's guidance, especially when we are in rebel mode, but if we take a step back and think of the trouble that we get ourselves into, and the often abysmal choices that we make when we don't have God in our lives, maybe we can grasp a shred of humility and admit that it is a miraculous blessing that God offers to guide us in our abject blindness. God's way is the only way to that happy ending. We can fight it, and we do SO often, but without more wisdom and knowledge and goodness, we are never going to get where we want to go. God offers us not only guidance, but along the way he teaches us wisdom, and truth, and goodness, so that we can see more clearly and help others to God's salvation too.
Today, let's not believe the lie that we can save ourselves. No matter how intelligent, talented, and beautiful we all are (and we can be pretty dang cool sometimes, I admit), we still need God... need him desperately. Let's turn to the only one who knows us better than we know ourselves, and who knows how to guide us to a better life and a better world. Let's walk after God's thoughts.
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