MYSTERIOUS WAYS...

Have you ever reacted to a situation or person and wondered what on earth you were thinking? Did you analyze yourself backward and forward, trying to seek better understanding of your reaction, only to become more confused? Isn't it a horrible feeling to realize you don't always understand yourself, much less the reasons you do the things you do? Thank goodness God knows us better than we could ever know ourselves, and more importantly, He loves us...quirks, knee-jerk reactions, and all.

"He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." Romans 8:27-28 (MSG)

If you are anything like me, you're not only baffled by your own ways, but also by the plans of God. His methods and motives are certainly different from ours. I think about this often and am coming to the place of thanking Him for His higher and more perfect ways - even when I really don't feel like it.

But what if each of us who live this life of faith could just immediately rest our thoughts of question and puzzlement in the hands of God? What if our first instinct was to TRUST that His ways are perfect and everything’s going to work out in the end? In theory that sounds fabulous, but it’s a true battle when the rubber of our faith hits the road of life.

"As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things." Ecclesiastes 11:5 (NIV)

I cannot fathom the rhythm to God's rhymes and often can't make sense of my own, but just the other day something occurred to me. I was suddenly so thankful to remember that He is a God who not only carefully lays out each of His plans, but also has absolute understanding concerning His decisions. God's sovereignty cannot be denied and is even painful at times, but what a silver lining in the storm clouds to be reminded that His motivations are always pure, His ways are truly perfect, AND He understands every detail of them! Oh my, are they detailed...

“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." Isaiah 55:8-9 (NSV)

It is clear in life and in the Bible: God's ways are not our own. They are impossible to wrap around and much too high to grasp. Though we cannot reach them, may each of us who loves Christ be encouraged to know that His blueprints are carefully spread out in the heavenlies and each facet of them makes absolute sense to Him. Today, more than ever before, may we rest in this comfort and choose to be thankful for our God's mysterious ways...

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (MSG)

Baffled But Smiling,
Katie Marie