Daily Devotions

“See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 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.”  Isaiah 55:5-9

We’re doing some new things in the life of our congregation these days.  Along with the subtle little changes that always happen when a new pastor comes to town, we are also making some changes in how we do Christian learning.  Believe me, this is not happening without a bit of anxiety here and there.

The fundamental driver behind re-thinking learning (along with the realization that a whole bunch of people haven’t been learning a whole lot along the way) is returning to the old idea that the home is the primary location for teaching the faith.  The church exists to come alongside parents, to equip them, that they become the primary models and incubators for faith.

Hence the anxiety.

Most of us are quite aware that “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts”, that “God’s ways are not our ways”.  That is precisely the problem.  We have lots of parents and other adults who feel very insecure about their understanding of the faith, their appreciation and knowledge of the Bible, and even how the faith affects their daily lives.  So now when their congregational leaders start encouraging them to open up, to share themselves a bit, to take some risks in engaging their kids in new ways, it is scary.

But what is so scary about God knowing a whole lot more than we do?  What is so striking about the realization that life is, and will always pretty much be, a mystery to us?  What possible benefit is there to realize that we have a lot of growing up and learning to do?

For God very clearly tells us all we need to know.  What is confusing about “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”?

Seek the Lord.  Call upon him.  Ask for help.  Rely on him.  Trust him.

Anytime that life takes a turn toward the scary, those are always good moves for us to make.

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, far too often we rely only on ourselves, for we still want to be in charge, we still want to set the agenda for our lives.  Yet life is far too complex for us and there is always too much that we don’t know.  Come to us when we don’t know where else to turn.  Teach us and lead us to understand only what we need to know to do the next right thing in our lives.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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