I hope you are enjoying this little study in Isaiah 55. I am!
Just yesterday Dave and I were talking about some decisions we were making, seeking the Lord’s direction and acknowledging that we would only do certain things if we had the Father’s peace. We prayed, we talked, we prayed some more and then we were reminded of yesterday’s teaching – “I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.” There you have it, the peace came!
Since we’ve been back from Greece, we have been asked several times if the trip was what we hoped it would be. Our answer was immediate, everything we hoped for and more.
That’s how I feel about the verses we will go over today, everything we hoped for and more!
“Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. 7 Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. 8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:6-9 NLT
Some people read verse 6 and get the impression that God is elusive or that He is hiding. Not so. The Lord is always near to us, we’re the ones who often hide. Just like Adam hid in the garden because he was ashamed of his sin, we often pull back from God, from prayer, from fellowship.
Jesus said in His teachings, “ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the doors will be open”. Isaiah is saying the same thing here – seek for God, you will find Him; ask (call) and you will receive.
Receive what? Forgiveness!
We’ve all done things we are ashamed of; we’ve all sinned. Big sin or little ones, they all interrupt our relationship with the Father. We read the word “wicked” and think “I’m not that bad” but that my friend is self-justification. According to God’s standard we’ve all missed the mark.
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23 NLT
‘Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.’ (vs 7) Let that sink in – turn (seek) to God and He will forgive generously. Right now, take a deep breath and breathe in the forgiveness of God. Don’t run, don’t hide, come to receive forgiveness and the healing it brings. It’s not like the conditional forgiveness that we give. The “I’ll forgive you now but if you ever do it again, that’s it” kind of forgiveness.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”
God doesn’t just love us; He is love and love never fails. We, in our thinking, can’t imagine being able to forgive and forget completely but that’s exactly what God does. He promises to remember our sins no more!
“He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” Psalm 103:12 NLT
His ways and thoughts are definitely higher than ours. He wants us to take on His way of thinking, learning His character and knowing His heart.
As Isaiah said, “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” God’s love is everything we have hoped for and so much more!