Isaiah 54:1-57:13
Ephesians 6:1-24
Psalm 70:1-5
Proverbs 24:8
I am struggling with something at the moment. Someone I love hurt another person I love pretty badly a few months back, and they not only refuse to apologize, they refuse to even acknowledge the hurt they've caused. The struggle isn't with the person who caused the problem, though - it's with me, and my inability to trade my anger for forgiveness. I look at the consequences of what they did, and I ask "Why, Lord?" And I get no answer - at least none that makes sense.
Then I read this in today's OT passage:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways'
declares the Lord.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
To me, this verse enlightens my mind...but it is unsatisfying to my heart. "I get it, God. You know better. But...(stamp my feet)..."
And then I read backwards, and a little light clicked on:
Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord and He will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
It isn't the other person being called unrighteous in this passage - it's me. I am the wicked being called to forgive, the unrighteous being called to give up my self righteousness. I don't know how God might be using this situation in the life of the person who caused the hurt. I don't know how God might be using it in the life of the person who was hurt. But if God is going to freely pardon me, shouldn't I be prepared to do the same, even if I don't understand why?
Father, many times what You choose isn't going to make sense to me. And thinking about it, that's a good thing. If everything You did made sense to me, You wouldn't be God, You'd be just, well...me. So when You do things I don't get, when You permit things I don't understand, I ask not for the understanding that is beyond me, I ask for faith, and I ask for the guidance to respond as You would have me do.
Then I read this in today's OT passage:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways'
declares the Lord.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
To me, this verse enlightens my mind...but it is unsatisfying to my heart. "I get it, God. You know better. But...(stamp my feet)..."
And then I read backwards, and a little light clicked on:
Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord and He will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
It isn't the other person being called unrighteous in this passage - it's me. I am the wicked being called to forgive, the unrighteous being called to give up my self righteousness. I don't know how God might be using this situation in the life of the person who caused the hurt. I don't know how God might be using it in the life of the person who was hurt. But if God is going to freely pardon me, shouldn't I be prepared to do the same, even if I don't understand why?
Father, many times what You choose isn't going to make sense to me. And thinking about it, that's a good thing. If everything You did made sense to me, You wouldn't be God, You'd be just, well...me. So when You do things I don't get, when You permit things I don't understand, I ask not for the understanding that is beyond me, I ask for faith, and I ask for the guidance to respond as You would have me do.
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