Right beside “Judge not, lest you be judged (Matt. 7:7), in the list of most misused texts we find this in Isaiah:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says 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” (55: 8, 9).
This text reminds us that we should never expect that we could understand the hows and whys of all that God does. It is, however, an abuse of the text when we use it to cover the contradictions in our own thinking. There we are making an argument in defense of some error. A friend points out that our argument requires asserting both sides of a genuine contradiction. Rather than retreating and repenting we try to fortify our folly with this text.
It doesn’t work. God’s ways are not our ways, but neither are they nonsensical, unthinkable, contradictory. God is the creator of the pi we’ll never get our minds around, but He does not, indeed could not, create a square circle. He is not the author of confusion.
All of which is prolegomena to my point. Again, God’s thinking is beyond our thinking. But is that really His point here? Is God really saying through the prophet Isaiah, “I’m really smart. You wouldn’t understand.” I don’t think so. This Word from the Lord is saying something much more damning to us, and glorifying to Him.
The context of the quote is not Isaiah emphasizing the transcendence of God. Isaiah does that, for certain, in other places. Here in this chapter, however, the emphasis is not only on God’s nearness to us, but His kindness and grace toward us. Come and buy without money. Let your soul delight itself in abundance. The words immediately preceding “My thoughts are not your thoughts”? “For He will abundantly pardon.”
The contrast between us and God that God expresses through Isaiah here is less between our puny minds and His all-knowing mind. Instead it is between our puny, selfish, cold hearts and His infinite, giving, overflowing heart. God is calling on us to believe in His posture of benevolence toward us. This is why when we buried my father I wrote this epitaph for his tombstone, “He was a kind man, redeemed by a kinder Savior.”
While we are certainly sinfully stupid enough to occasionally think we know better than God, we are stupidly sinful enough to often think we are kinder than God. We are not. His ways are not our ways. Our way is to destroy our enemies. His way is to redeem His enemies. Our way is to hold grudges. His way is to forgive.
His thoughts are not our thoughts. We think victory is found in asserting our rights. He thinks glory is found in laying down His. We think being wronged burns bridges. He thinks reconciliation is worth the cost of His only begotten Son. No, He is not like us.
He is, however, making us more like Him. His Spirit is bringing forth fruit. His Son is washing us with the water of the Word. And He is leading us back to Him, promising that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.