God’s Wisdom

 

I love the surprises of God. Sometimes they are little things like all the lights are green when I need to get somewhere on time, or I find a bargain that I’ve prayed to find, or someone calls that I needed to visit. Sometimes He surprises me with unpleasant news. I didn’t expect my sister to die so soon and so quickly. Or Sunday’s sermon ties in to a convicting devotional with both challenging me to unwelcome change.

The point is, I cannot predict what God will do, except those times when I pray with absolute assurance that He is going to answer the way I’m hoping. We once tried to rent a house only to be told it was taken, but I knew we were going to live in that house. The person who planned to changed his mind and we were given the house.

Another time I knew that I should call a store and confirm a sale price, even though it was printed in the newspaper. I did, went to the store, and was told the sale was over. I said, “But I called…” and the clerk said she remembered that call and gave me the item for the sale price.

More recently, I was praying for a prodigal and a song came to mind that he would soon be “coming home” and I was so certain of it that I just kept singing that song. Within a few days, he called to share he was again actively following Christ.

These things are wonderful when they happen, and when they do not, I feel like a starving person. When the devotional writer says we need to be careful that we are not worshiping the gifts more than the giver, I am convicted. Yet how can the two be separated? It is the same with our dearest friends. They give us reasons to consider them dear, and those reasons cannot be laid aside. They define who that person is.

The devotional writers says if we wiped every promise out of the Bible we would still have God left and God would be enough — but without the things that God does, how would we know that He is enough? If He just surprised me all the time, prayer for help in a crisis or guidance in making decisions would be pointless. I would have nothing to base my hope and confidence on if I didn’t know that God makes and keeps His promises.

It seems the devotional writer is saying I should not assume that God will do whatever I want Him to do or be presumptuous in any way. I can remember a plebiscite taken in a town we lived in and a Christian was certain the vote would go God’s way. I thought of sports pundits and news people who predict winners and are often wrong, but did not say anything. How can we mere mortals be certain what our God of surprises is going to do? In this case, the plebiscite was voted against what that person was so sure would happen and I learned something about God. Again, who can second-guess Him?

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. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

Still, God is enough, yet this is the gist of it — not that all that God does is missing or unseen, but  His way of thinking and dealing with the world, the mess in the world, and the sinners that seem happy and in control is beyond my way of thinking. I don’t need a specific promise nor do I need a more solid doctrine, or deeper understanding. I just need to remember that He is able and my inability to see or deal with any of it with insight and understanding will always fall short. God’s ways will always be beyond my comprehension and that is precisely why I can trust Him. My ignorance of what God is doing is actually a form of proof for His greater power.

PRAY: Jesus, You know how I want to be a know-it-all who can figure out the reason things happen and the possible solutions that You will bring to those things. That is sheer arrogance on my part. It shows up in my pouting when it becomes apparent that I really have no clue what You are doing. Forgive my pride and lack of letting go of my suppositions, even if they are based on Your prior revelations of Yourself. I should have learned by now that even though You are faithful and reliable, You are also not likely to do the same thing twice. You will always surprise me with Your answers to my perplexities.