When we acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, He will direct our paths. This a promise that settles our hearts and minds, and it allows us to truly enjoy the life God has blessed us with. Isaiah 55 gives us more insight about this abundant life.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that just because we belong to the Lord, it doesn’t mean that we understand His ways or His thoughts. A similar truth is in Proverbs 3:5-6 where the Bible teaches us not to lean on our own understanding but to trust Him will all our hearts. In truth, we prefer to understand what God is doing before we trust Him. This keeps us in a position of having some perceived control. However, if we truly desire to have the abundant life that God has for His children we need to take those truths to heart and begin living them out in our day-to-day lives.
The passage in Isaiah also tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways. While we should learn about God’s ways, we cannot create a formula for how the Lord is going to work in a certain situation. This truth is evident with the people of Israel in the wilderness. There were times that the Lord did the same thing for many years, such as providing manna in the desert, but there were times that God did things differently, such as providing them water in various ways. That is why the passage in Proverbs is so important. Instead of trying to figure out the Lord and His ways, we want to acknowledge Him in all our ways. When we do this He will direct our paths. This means we need to trust Him, listen to His voice, and be yielded to Him.
Sometimes when we ask others to pray for us, we ask them to pray for some specific outcome. The truth is that most of the time we don’t know what the right outcome should be. Instead of expecting God to do exactly what we want, we should align our thoughts to the mind of Christ and allow ourselves to be recalibrated with His ways and His desires.
If we truly believe that God is all knowing and has all authority, we also need to admit that we are not all knowing. Therefore, trusting God with all our heart will help us to truly enjoy the abundant life that He has blessed us with.
Are there areas that you are leaning on your own understanding and trying to figure out what the Lord is going to do!?
To enjoy the abundant life that God has for us, we need to continually remind ourselves that His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways. Release your control and let Him take control of the situation.