3 He Stoops to Bring Us Higher
HE STOOPS TO
BRING US HIGHER
Sometimes the thoughts that fill my head are anything but high and lofty.
Take last night for instance. After Bible study, a few of the girls hung around and started talking as we sipped coffee.
You’d think we would have discussed what we learned from the study, right? No. Instead we debated the pros and cons of laundry detergent sold in see-through plastic bottles so you can tell when it’s near empty. Oh yes—and then we discussed how somebody ought to put a clear plastic strip on the sides of toothpaste pumps so you can tell when they’re running low. Let’s see … we discussed the sale at a local women’s wear store, and why they decaffeinate coffee the way they do. Then we talked about news reports of what the first lady has been up to.
Little wonder God said to Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (55:8–9).
Somehow, I don’t think God stays up at night worrying about laundry detergent or lingerie sales.
But let’s take a moment to let those verses from Isaiah sink in. God’s thoughts are so much higher than ours we can’t even begin to comprehend the gap that must be bridged. If we’re to walk and talk and feel with our Father, it stands to reason we must begin to think as He thinks. “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3).
Somehow, my thoughts need to be conformed to God’s—or else I cannot hope to know Him or become like Him as He desires. But what can I possibly do to rise to His level? To elevate my thinking? To think His thoughts? I can think as much as I please, but my thoughts—limited, finite, and so very human—still leave me on earth.
Ah, but all is not hopeless. Why? Because even though my thoughts cannot bear me up to the Almighty, He nevertheless is still thinking about me. The psalmist declares, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” (Psalm 139:17–18, NLT).
Do you get the picture? God thinks about us. He bridges the gap. He makes intimacy possible. He makes His thoughts available. He puts His thoughts into words we can understand, stooping to make Himself comprehensible to a finite mind. In fact, His thoughts are what the Bible is all about. Praise His name, they are within grasp! And when we lay hold of Him and His ideas, then and only then can we be drawn closer to Him.
Take some time for that today. Open your Bible to a passage such as one of those I’ve mentioned—Isaiah 55 or Psalm 139. Invite His Holy Spirit to shine the light of understanding on everything you read. You may be surprised at how heavenly minded your thoughts really can be.
That’s not only amazing, that’s grace!
A Step Closer
Look deep into my heart, God,
and find out everything
I am thinking.
PSALM 139:23, CEV
“Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?” But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
1 CORINTHIANS 2:16, NLT
God will not only enter our thoughts
(He is already there),
but He will order them, purge them of evil,
and draw them up to a higher plane so we can begin
to grasp spiritual realities beyond what we
could ever fathom on our own.
Invite Him into your inmost thoughts
once again today, and give Him freedom
to do His transforming work.