Forgiveness - God Doesn't Think Like We Do
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts..."
Isaiah 55:8
Isaiah 55
is a widely known and quoted Bible passage. Most often, it is remembered and
repeated because it contains a strong affirmation that God never allows His
Word to fail. Verse 5 reads "So
shall my word be that goes out of my mouth; it shall not return to me empty but
it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for
which I sent it."
What makes this a standout
passage is not simply that it declares that God's Word will successfully effect
whatever purpose that He intends. It is what God intends that makes it glorious.
God purposes to extend forgiveness freely, and generously, beyond any of our
wildest expectations.
It should
be noted that Isaiah 55 is an invitation to wandering and rebellious sinners
who are languishing in the emptiness, poverty, slavery, and misery of their
sinful choices. It is a lavish call to return to God filled with hope that God
will truly forgive, restore, and bless. The chapter begins "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the
waters; and he who has no money, come buy and eat!"
What I
would like you to consider are these words in verse 8: "my thoughts are not your thoughts neither
are your ways my ways". It cannot be overstated that one of the
greatest hindrances to enjoying communion with God is our thinking. It is our
thinking that leads us away from God in the first place. We think that we know
the path to true joy and self-fulfillment. We think that God is harsh and hard
and unhappy. We think He demands too much and offers too little. We think that
the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and so off we go.
Then, when
we discover much to our dismay that we got it all wrong, our thinking can keep
us from returning to God. We left God because we thought God was too hard and
harsh and then we look back and fear that He might still be too hard and harsh.
We can continue to fail precisely where our tragic journey began: We
underestimate the immeasurable generosity and goodness of God toward all who
will trust in Him.
Listen to
the call of God in verses 5 and 6: "Seek
the Lord while he may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked
forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the
Lord that He may have compassion on Him, and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon." If you are struggling with guilt and shame, and like the
prodigal son in Jesus' famous parable, you are trying to figure out how you
might persuade your heavenly Father to show you a bit of mercy when you know
you don't deserve it, stop. Stop thinking your own thoughts. Stop following
them. Repentance is stopping that nonsense and taking God at His word.
God says
"Come empty handed." You have no money to buy Him off. Listen to Him.
Stop listening to that voice in your own head. Listen to God. If you will stop
listening to your own thoughts and walking your own way and start listening to
God and following what He says, you will see that He is whom He says He is. God
is compassionate. God will abundantly pardon you. That is His Word to you. His
thoughts are not your thoughts.
That brings
me back to the famous passage of Scripture in which God declares that His Word
cannot fail but "shall accomplish
that which I purpose." This is no generic statement about the efficacy
of God's Word. This is a declaration about forgiving repentant sinners. Your
thinking might be "God can't forgive me, not if He truly knows what I have
done." We think we know our guilt, sin, and shame. What we must realize is
that our sin is far more vile and offensive than we comprehend. God's ways
really are profoundly different than our ways. Yet, the holy God whose eyes are
too pure to look upon evil has offered forgiveness. He has determined to extend
forgiveness to those who seek Him. He has declared that He will cleanse, heal,
and restore. That is why when He says His Word cannot fail to accomplish that
for which He sent it, we must understand what His Word is. It is the decree of
the King of heaven who says that He will extend forgiveness and amnesty to all
and any who will turn from their sins and return to Him.
That word
cannot fail. It was that decree which God made before the foundation of the
world that began to move all things towards that moment in time and history
when God would guarantee the full forgiveness of every sinner who would trust
in Him. The success of the Word of God was realized when His Son cried "It
is finished!" while hanging on a Roman cross. God had kept His Word. Jesus
had won the victory! God resolved to do it. God accomplished it!
Friend,
whatever guilt and shame keeps you from experiencing the joy and peace of
returning to God must be addressed. Your thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Abandon them. God will abundantly pardon. God determined to do this on your
behalf and He followed through by placing all your guilt on the shoulders of
His perfect sinless Son.
Here is
something else which is God's thought and not yours. If you will abandon your
thoughts and ways and return to God, not only will He forgive you, but God
declares "... you shall go out with
joy and be lead forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall
break forth in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands"
(vs.12). It is yours for the taking. Take God at His Word.
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