“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9
I’ve been praying about this verse a lot lately. In the frame of mind I’m in, in the midst of all this pain and all these questions the verse comes off sounding a bit snarky to me.
Now don’t get me wrong… I know it’s God… He’s not snarky. I revere Him and I honor Him. I realize that the flaw lies strictly with me. Hence the praying.
Here’s what God’s been showing me lately.
photo credit: jenny downing via photopin cc
I’m thinking more and more about our senses. There are some on this earth who are missing a sense or two. For me, I have a few senses that have been dulled by my neurological condition. But here’s what I’ve been contemplating.
There is no way that someone who cannot hear could ever fully understand the impact of that moment in the movie when the hero finally wins and the music soars to a moving crescendo and the audience just cries because they really have no other option. Music has that power. But not for those who cannot hear.
There is no way that someone who cannot see can ever fully understand all of the myriad shades of the color red. The impact of taking that last curve and having a field of poppies open up to swallow up all the space to the horizon… the glory of that breath-taking moment is lost to the blind. The blush of pink or the vibrancy of a fire engine are all just words without meaning to someone who cannot see.
But here’s the thing… would they know it? Not if they were born deaf or blind.
In the last six years, I have been afflicted with intermittent numbness on all parts of my body. I know what I’m missing, because I lived over 30 years with normal sense of touch and feeling. But some days, when it’s been months or years since I’ve felt the butterfly touch of my husband’s fingers on mine, the returned sense catches me by surprise. I’m mesmerized by what I’ve been missing.
So God has recently been teaching me that there are other senses…. senses that are dulled or broken or maybe that we’ve never experienced. So sometimes things seem bitter or confusing or… ahem, snarky… because I’m trying to solve a mystery without all the clues. I’m not even capable of receiving or interpreting the clues. But I think I am, see. I think I have all the input necessary to come to a proper conclusion.
I am blind and deaf and my senses that do exist are deadened by the numbness caused by all the input I can’t process.
So today I’m practicing that little thing called faith. Faith in the one who created the harmonies and the melodies and the soaring crescendos. Faith in the painter of all the myriad shades of red. Faith in the tingle-Master who made my skin with all these little nerves and receptors.
He is missing nothing. He is the only one who is complete enough, aware enough, to reach the proper conclusion and gather all the necessary input.
I trust you, Lord.
God in Heaven, help me to remember my place and my abilities. Not from a bad, snarky place but from a submissive and humble place. A place of faith and trust. I love you, Lord. I long to love You with the kind of love with which You love me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
If you have been helped by this post and think it could be helpful to someone you know, please share this post on the social network of your choice for me.
All you have to do is click one of the buttons below.
May God Bless You,
Shelly
I hear God cheering you on saying “well done” figuring this out…..I think He has some nice surprises in store for you of the treasures in the darkness kind.
Let me know 😉
Love the way you keep seeking …as the promise says..he that seeks, finds.
May you feel the touch of His love deeply and intimately and be delighted with His ways of showing you how much He loves you.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mary, your friendship always blesses me. I love you. Heart Hugs, Shelly <3
I couldn’t help but realize as I read that perhaps, just perhaps, those who do not have a noticeable deadening in their senses have even more trouble with realizing they cannot see or hear it all. Because a medical exam has told them their vision or hearing is all fine. Yet even those among us who see the best still cannot see the full picture of what God is doing. This is definitely something to consider more, to see where I’ve been blinded by my ability to see (with glasses) fairly clearly. 🙂
Carrie+Daws recently posted…Chance to WIN a FREE Book!
You are so right, Carrie! Great insight!! Thanks for blessing me with your comment! Heart Hugs, Shelly <3
We walk by faith, and as we walk, we experience the faithfulness of God. I was in the middle of writing that sentence when the phone rang with another example of exactly that. Faithful love that never, ever lets us go.
That gives me tingles, Kay! I love when He reminds us how intricately He’s involved in our details. Heart Hugs, Shelly <3
I love your analogy. I also think that sometimes when one sense is dull, others become sharper. It’s interesting – I have a severe hearing loss (I wear hearing aids), but I hear God really well. (I also smell really well, which doesn’t always work to my advantage. 🙂 )
I love how God doesn’t need our physical senses, like hearing, to let us hear him. How amazing. What a mighty God we serve. Love you, Jen. Heart Hugs, Shelly <3
Wonderful thought process and heart picture, Shelly. Although I don’t suffer any physical ailments, sometimes I become numb to God’s promptings because hey, as a minister I have it all figured out, right? (Yeah, no.) Once I allow myself to become sensitive to His spirit again, He touches my heart– and I remember what I was missing!
Thanks for this. Praying for you always!
That’s the key, Sharita… staying sensitive. He has such wonders to reveal. Love you, sister! Heart Hugs, Shelly <3