Thoughts on Isaiah 55

Today’s reading was from Isaiah 55 and Pastor used that for his sermon. He is right when he says that this is a very rich passage with lots of good stuff crammed into a single chapter….

I want to zero in on verses 8 – 9  (Keep in mind that I am not a Theologian, these are just my thoughts and they might even change the next time I ponder these things)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says 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. 

Some people would take this to mean that God has a plan; when a person is suffering they won’t understand why but they can be confident that God has a plan. I certainly won’t say that God does not have a plan, but I really don’t think he micro-manages the universe or individual people either. I tend towards more of an Open Theism point of view…..

So, what do these verses say to me ?

I think the first thing we need to “understand” about God is that God is God and and you are not, and neither am I ! God is completely beyond our capacity to understand.  As a Christian I believe that God reveals himself to us must fully in the person Jesus Christ, but even so God is God and we are not…..

From a practical standpoint I think this should make us very reticent to say that we “know” or “understand” God or that we speak for God; very presumptuous I would say….

some related links…..

• Classical theism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Open theism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Open theism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Apophatic theology – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia