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God’s Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts
One of the hardest things to understand for most humans walking this planet is that we do not think the same way that God thinks. This is true even for people that try to be followers of Jesus and devoted to His teachings. Just think about it for a minute, the thoughts that we have every day seem completely rational to us. Our thoughts simply make sense to us.
In fact, we have a hard time believing that other people (let
alone God) could think differently about things than we do. Just think
about political topics like abortion or same sex marriage. The two political parties of this country are as far
as the east is from the west on these topics. Both sides cannot really
understand how the other side can’t see the light and embrace what is right.
The fact of the matter is that our minds are not the same even as individuals
and are far different than the mind of God.
God’s thoughts are not the same as your thoughts. In fact, the Bible teaches that the thoughts of man are far different than the thoughts of God. Our thoughts are influenced by emotions and even circumstances that we often don’t control.
God’s thoughts are not the same as your thoughts. In fact, the Bible teaches that the thoughts of man are far different than the thoughts of God. Our thoughts are influenced by emotions and even circumstances that we often don’t control.
Furthermore,
our thoughts can lead us astray and down a path of sin and disobedience apart
from God. Thankfully God has given us His word (the Bible) to help guide
and lead us. This short study will hopefully point you towards
self-evaluation and encouraging thoughts about God.
God is God and I am Not
First,
we must know and acknowledge that God is God and I am not. This sounds
pretty simple doesn’t it?
Satan
wants us to buy into the lie that we are like God and can even think like
God. This was Satan’s tactic in the opening pages of the Bible.
The
serpent tricked Adam and Eve into
thinking that they could become like God when he tempted them and led them to
partake in the tree that God forbid them to eat.
Genesis
3:1 says, “Now the serpent was more crafty
than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.”
Satan
is crafty and desires to get us to resist listening to God. He made Adam
and Eve think they didn’t really need to listen to God. Satan had them
rationalize (rational + lies) that they wouldn’t die just from eating of this
forbidden fruit.
We
do the same thing if we are honest with ourselves. We resist listening to
God. We often know right from wrong and know what sin is but think that
we too can rationalize (again rational + lies) our way around something.
God’s
Thoughts: Pure, Righteous, Holy
Isaiah
55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither 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.”
Next,
we have to understand that as Christians, God is our authority in every area of
life. His thoughts are pure and righteous and holy
and we should try to imitate Christ and be more like Him.
In
the Bible passage above we see that the prophet Isaiah writes us a very
memorable statement from God. Our thoughts are so different than God’s
that even reading those 2 verses might not fully make sense to us.
Let
me try to give you an example. You work hard every day at your job and a
new job opening comes up that you are qualified for. You decide that you
will apply for this position and you feel very strongly that you are more than
deserving of this position.
You
pray for God’s will to be done. You know that the new position will bring
added money in your weekly paycheck so that things won’t be so tight
financially for your family. It all seems to be lining up. And
then… you don’t get the job.
Maybe
you were even deserving of the job but there were some political reasons that
seemed to block you getting this promotion. How do you react? Well
each of us probably might respond differently but often when “bad things happen to good people” we
might get discouraged and slip in our faith and trust in God. This is
often a gradual thing, as we don’t often shake our fist at God and demand to
know “Why?”
Rather
we go from discouragement to doubting that God had our best interests at
heart. Maybe you even have a stream of consciousness where you say, “I know God is all powerful so what happened
here?
Maybe
he didn’t want good things for me. Maybe he has forgotten about me.
God must either have forgotten about me or he wants to inflict pain on my
life…”
The
stream of our thoughts might not happen quickly but we can go down this type of
slippery slope in our minds because we don’t have the same thoughts as God.
What
if God was saving you from a coming hardship? What if that company was
about to become part of a scandal and the leadership was about to be
ridiculed? What if that new position required many nights away from your
home and spouse and God was protecting you from having an illicit affair that
would break up your marriage?
Now
don’t hear me wrong, these examples might seem somewhat extreme but God’s
perspective is far different than our perspective. His thoughts are different
than your thoughts.
God Knows All – Trust Him
That
is why we need to embrace the fact that God is a great all knowing God. I
am thankful that He knows more than I do. I am thankful that His ways are
higher than my ways. We should embrace that and allow God to lead
us.
Some
of the sweetest times in my life spiritually have been when I was out of my
comfort zone and not sure what God had in store for me. The times that I
tried to run ahead of God and have every detail of my life structured without
consulting Him have been times filled with stress.
Friends,
there is much more that could be said about how different our thoughts are from
God’s thoughts but I encourage you to give God control of your life.
Give
Him the steering wheel of where He will lead you and your family. He
wants us to surrender to Him and
to enjoy the benefits of life filled with His Holy Spirit.
Do
that today!
God has made it possible
for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in
your own life through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and have
eternal life.
Say the following
prayer:
“Father God,
I confess I am a sinner and my sins have
separated me from you.
I am truly sorry.
I now want to turn away from my past sinful life and live a
new life pleasing to you.
Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was
resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and
reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank you that according to your Word,
I am now born again.
Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do
Your will for the rest of my life.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.”
Related
Posts:
“Ah Lord God” DON
MOEN
lyrics
Verse:
Ah, Lord God, Thou has made the heavens
And the earth by thy great power
Ah, Lord God, Thou has made the heavens
And the earth by Thine out - stretched arm
Chorus:
Nothing is too difficult for Thee
Nothing is too difficult for Thee
Great and mighty God
Great in coun - sel and might - y in deed
Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing
Nothing is too difficult for Thee
(Repeat All)
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