Who is God? – Day 13

At the first reading of these seemingly simple words in Isaiah 55:8-9, they appear to be straightforward, but when we ponder their meaning, we realise that they explain why there are so many things in life and in the Bible that we do not understand. We recognise to a small degree the magnificence of God’s mind when we realise the brilliance of the many commands, laws, poems, prophecies, wise sayings and stories that the Bible contains, but we don’t always acknowledge that He is our Creator and does not operate according to our understanding. Those who walk with Him will admit that they have experienced things that only make sense when seen through faith in God’s Word.

When you consider how far away the heavens are from the earth, you will appreciate that this word picture is trying to show here the immensity of the difference between our human understanding compared with God’s divine understanding, and therefore our actions as they relate to our minds, compared with God’s actions as they relate to His.

Parents, teachers, and in fact anyone who has to communicate anything to those who are not on their own level for whatever reason, will know just how difficult it is to make themselves understood, and just how wrong things can go through misunderstanding or sometimes a disregard of instructions. Many children feel it is unfair if they are deprived of certain “pleasures” that their friends are allowed, or if their schools insist on them obeying the rules. They are unable to see the big picture and that it is really because their parents and their school care about their wellbeing.

Or take a crude example of how a simple afternoon’s pleasure of walking the dog can turn into a nightmare when the dog, in its “wisdom”, breaks free from its leash to explore all those places where his master will not allow him: the section of the park where the aggressive dogs are, or the busy highway at the end of the luscious green field that has no fence. Clearly the dog is deprived of these pleasures for its own good and safety, but it cannot understand its master’s mind any more than the child his parents’!