My Thoughts, God’s Thoughts
My Thoughts,
God’s Thoughts
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 department store, and why it is 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 toothpaste pumps.
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. And it does need to 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 to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand” (Psalm 139:17-18).
Do you get the picture? God thinks about us. He bridges the gap. He makes His thoughts available. He puts His thoughts into words we can understand, stooping to make Himself comprehensible. In fact, His thoughts are what the Bible is all about. 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. You may be surprised at how heavenly-minded your thoughts really can be.