I have been reading a book on Orthodox Theology written by Andrew Louth. One of the things he refers to is Apophatic Theology - which is focused on defining what something is, by describing what it isn't, as in God. As I was reading through the book and thinking about that idea I was thinking about the verses from Isaiah 55 where God describes Himself using similar thinking. This morning when I opened my Bible that is exactly the section I was in. Here are the verses - Isaiah 55:7-11 NIV:
[7] "Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
[8] “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
[9] “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
[10] As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
[11] so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
The critical verses are eight and nine, but they are framed nicely by three other verses that are also not like us. We are made in His likeness and Jesus came to earth and became man incarnate, but as a member of the Holy Trinity He is much more than just human. God, throughout scripture is giving us indications of what He is like, using our limited language to describe Himself, and it is just not possible to convey limitlessness with a limited language. Sometime the best definition is to say He is not like us!
These verses are some of my favorite that help me to understand the difference between all of us brothers and sisters that makes up mankind and God. God says "His thoughts are NOT our thoughts'. There is no simpler way of saying that our best thoughts do not come close to how He thinks.
He is present all the time in every situation, in every circumstance, in every life and we cannot comprehend that at all. We can say the words, but we cannot logically get to a full understanding of what that means. The best Chess player in the world thinks through hundreds and maybe thousands of move scenarios, and in comparison God is aware of everything in all of creation all at the same time, including every man, woman and child and every thought they are having, have had, and will have. Clearly His thoughts are not our thoughts!
He continues on saying that 'our ways are NOT His ways'. In other words, we cannot judge God by the ways of other men, or said slightly differently, by the actions of humans. Our best ways, do not even come close to the ways of God. We can be kind, loving, good, merciful, compassionate, and caring, and never come close to being as kind, loving, good, merciful, compassionate, and caring as God.
He has ways we will never understand.
He has perspective we will never grasp or see.
He doesn't act with motives like man does, He is unchanging, yet always new! He is merciful and compassionate and just! Every word we use to describe Him is only scratching the surface of who He really is, and what He is like. We can learn more and more about Him everyday, and yet never come to an end of Him. He is beyond comprehension, yet chooses to be known. He is the God of the Universe, yet present to us in our very hearts!
Back to the verses from Isaiah, He continues to say that as 'high as the heavens are above the earth, so much higher are His ways than ours, and His thoughts than ours'. If we compare a light-bulb to the Sun, we might get a glimpse of how much bigger, and yet the heavens go so much more beyond that, for we understand the reaches of the universe to be included in the Hebrew word used by God here to describe His loftiness above our thoughts and ways.
At our kind, loving, good, merciful, compassionate, and caring best we are merely a shadow of reference, a likeness that is dimly pointing to the originator of it all. He is so much more than we can know and understand and yet He gives us images that help us to relate to Him, for He desires relationship.
Oh, what an awesome God we serve and love!
Amen!
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