God's Ways.

Friday, May 29, 2009. What is the right way? There are times in our life when we cannot change much. We have our duties, we have our work, everything seems calm and clear and there is not much we could do or decide. But there are also decision times. Then, we need to make up our mind where we want to go and what it the right way for us. What is good, what is leading into a reasonable future, what is sustainable. Sometimes a short-term gain can be a big loss in the long run. A local optimum can trick us and lead us into a blind alley.

God's ways are different. He says: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55,9) When we read this it might be unclear to us what is meant with these lines. In what way are his ways higher? What are they? Can we understand, or are his ways too high for us? Are we bound to follow just our earthly patterns?

It is possible to get a glimpse onto God's ways. It is possible to understand even more of them. The process in which we might learn his ways is called “faith”. It is a companionship - we and him. When we live with him, we learn how he behaves, what he thinks, what he wants. We will not learn it in one day, not in one week, not even in one year. There will not be the day when we know his ways in full. But we learn a lot about him, we get to know him when we walk with him. He speaks to us, he acts in our life, and he puts his high ways into our sunken roads.

God's ways are different. He is not always working like we would expect him to work. He is doing things differently. And sometimes he has other goals, much higher goals. We expect help in a particular manner - and ask him to lead us out of a situation or problem. But he wants to teach us many things with the particular problem and keeps us in it. He is thinking much further, he wants humility, not easy solutions which do not change us. He wants endurance and faith, a steady heart, not people who follow the wind and are pushed here or there easily. He wants to squeeze the bad things out of us sometimes - to create space for many good things. His ways are really higher than our ways, but much better, much more sustainable, with a goal which is worth the stake. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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