When our boys were younger they loved taking baths. They would splash and play until their little fingers were wrinkled. We had many wonderful memories with them in the bath tub. I recall one time hearing more splashing than normal and came around the corner to find Taylor splashing and kicking his feet while lying on his stomach. I started chuckling and asked him what he was doing. He told me that he was swimming. He did not know that swimming in the bathtub is just about impossible. From his little perspective the bath tub seemed more like a swimming pool.
Over the years as I have sought to know God, to get better acquainted with His character, His nature, and more familiar with His voice, I often feel like a child swimming in the bath tub. There are times when I really think I know Him and understand Him but then He does something so bizarre or something so far beyond my comprehension that I am left scratching my head and realize that I really have much more to learn.
Isaiah the prophet records God as saying, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your 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.” [Is 55:8-9] If we are all honest there are many times over the course of a life when we have to tell the Lord, “I don’t understand. I do not get what you are up to. It just doesn’t make sense. I know you are in control but this sure doesn’t seem like it.”
There are thousands of why questions. Though God listens He is not obligated to answer. What He does as He rules this universe is many times beyond our comprehension. We see from a limited perspective. His one message to us over and over again is to trust Him. Just when we think we have God figured out He does something mysterious and leaving us confused and bewildered trying to figure it out. There are some things we will never be able to figure out down here. That’s where trust comes in. I have to trust that God knows what He is doing.
When I look back over my life and watch the way He has worked and led I know that He has proven Himself trustworthy. What Satan meant for evil in my life God has used for good to teach me, shape me, and develop character. At times the path He led me on was very painful and my faith was nearly shipwrecked a time or two. In hindsight I can say along with Isaiah that God has higher ways and higher thoughts than I could have imagined. I don’t know Him like I thought I did and I sure do not have it all figured out.
It really all boils down to this. Do I trust God with my life, my family, and my future? If I do I can gut out the tough times trusting that better times are coming and that God never wastes pain. He often uses pain for His redemptive purposes. The times I have grown the most in my life were the times of great adversity. History is replete with great leaders who came out of great adversity. None of us would choose the painful and adverse path if we really had a choice but we have grown as a result of having gone through them.
I do not understand why some of the best friends in my life have been uprooted to other towns and we have separated by many miles for years. I do not understand why tragedies occur, why babies die, why the just often live in difficulty while the wicked prosper. I do not understand why some hypocritical preachers fraud and deceive people out of millions of dollars while a saint like Mother Teresa lived in poverty and obscurity. I do not understand why lying, selfishly ambitious, greedy, and arrogant people are elected to political office while true servants and people who love God and country are swept out of mind and sight by the media and voters.
I do know this. God can be trusted. He can be trusted when your plans come to a abrupt halt as He changes course on you. I know He can be trusted when you watch those you love die and suffer violently. He can be trusted when the rug gets jerked out from underneath you bringing you and your serene world crashing down. He can be trusted in life’s darkest and harshest moments as well as when we are successful and His abundant blessings surround us.
I laughed when I saw Taylor swimming in the bath tub. The Lord has used that little incident to teach me a great truth. We think we have God figured out. The truth is we are like children swimming around in the safe confines of a bath tub. God is more like an ocean. There are places in Him yet to be discovered and there are things about Him that no man has explored. In our study of the scriptures we are just children splashing around in the bath tub but God is inviting us to trust Him and to dive deep in the ocean of His truth.
I recently read that one of the first things that will happen when the saved get to Heaven is that we will have an “ah hah” moment. When we step into eternity suddenly we will gain God’s perspective and every part of our lives will make sense. We will see His higher ways and understand some of those higher thoughts. Until then, get out of the bath tub, grab the life preserver of a personal relationship with Jesus, the float ring of His word, and trust Him in the ocean.
Over the years as I have sought to know God, to get better acquainted with His character, His nature, and more familiar with His voice, I often feel like a child swimming in the bath tub. There are times when I really think I know Him and understand Him but then He does something so bizarre or something so far beyond my comprehension that I am left scratching my head and realize that I really have much more to learn.
Isaiah the prophet records God as saying, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your 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.” [Is 55:8-9] If we are all honest there are many times over the course of a life when we have to tell the Lord, “I don’t understand. I do not get what you are up to. It just doesn’t make sense. I know you are in control but this sure doesn’t seem like it.”
There are thousands of why questions. Though God listens He is not obligated to answer. What He does as He rules this universe is many times beyond our comprehension. We see from a limited perspective. His one message to us over and over again is to trust Him. Just when we think we have God figured out He does something mysterious and leaving us confused and bewildered trying to figure it out. There are some things we will never be able to figure out down here. That’s where trust comes in. I have to trust that God knows what He is doing.
When I look back over my life and watch the way He has worked and led I know that He has proven Himself trustworthy. What Satan meant for evil in my life God has used for good to teach me, shape me, and develop character. At times the path He led me on was very painful and my faith was nearly shipwrecked a time or two. In hindsight I can say along with Isaiah that God has higher ways and higher thoughts than I could have imagined. I don’t know Him like I thought I did and I sure do not have it all figured out.
It really all boils down to this. Do I trust God with my life, my family, and my future? If I do I can gut out the tough times trusting that better times are coming and that God never wastes pain. He often uses pain for His redemptive purposes. The times I have grown the most in my life were the times of great adversity. History is replete with great leaders who came out of great adversity. None of us would choose the painful and adverse path if we really had a choice but we have grown as a result of having gone through them.
I do not understand why some of the best friends in my life have been uprooted to other towns and we have separated by many miles for years. I do not understand why tragedies occur, why babies die, why the just often live in difficulty while the wicked prosper. I do not understand why some hypocritical preachers fraud and deceive people out of millions of dollars while a saint like Mother Teresa lived in poverty and obscurity. I do not understand why lying, selfishly ambitious, greedy, and arrogant people are elected to political office while true servants and people who love God and country are swept out of mind and sight by the media and voters.
I do know this. God can be trusted. He can be trusted when your plans come to a abrupt halt as He changes course on you. I know He can be trusted when you watch those you love die and suffer violently. He can be trusted when the rug gets jerked out from underneath you bringing you and your serene world crashing down. He can be trusted in life’s darkest and harshest moments as well as when we are successful and His abundant blessings surround us.
I laughed when I saw Taylor swimming in the bath tub. The Lord has used that little incident to teach me a great truth. We think we have God figured out. The truth is we are like children swimming around in the safe confines of a bath tub. God is more like an ocean. There are places in Him yet to be discovered and there are things about Him that no man has explored. In our study of the scriptures we are just children splashing around in the bath tub but God is inviting us to trust Him and to dive deep in the ocean of His truth.
I recently read that one of the first things that will happen when the saved get to Heaven is that we will have an “ah hah” moment. When we step into eternity suddenly we will gain God’s perspective and every part of our lives will make sense. We will see His higher ways and understand some of those higher thoughts. Until then, get out of the bath tub, grab the life preserver of a personal relationship with Jesus, the float ring of His word, and trust Him in the ocean.
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