Isaiah 55:8-9

DISCOURSE: 985
GOD’S WAYS ABOVE OURS

Isaiah 55:8. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith 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.

MEN are apt to judge of God by themselves, and to suppose him restricted by such laws as they deem proper for their own observance. The wicked almost reduce him to a level with themselves in a moral view [Note: Psalms 50:21.]: and even the godly form very inadequate conceptions of his ways and works. Of this God himself apprises us in the words before us; which we shall elucidate by shewing how different his thoughts and ways are from what we should have expected with respect to,

I. The objects of his choice—

[If we thought to take a person into the nearest relation to ourselves, we should be inclined to prefer one of high rank: if we undertook to instruct a person, we should select one who was intelligent and docile: or if we purposed to confer any favour, we should look out for an object that was worthy of it. But God acts in a very different manner. He takes the poor in preference to the rich [Note: Matthew 11:5.James 2:5.John 7:48.] — — — the ignorant before the wise [Note: Matthew 11:25. 1 Corinthians 1:19.] — — — and, in many instances, the vile before those, whose lives have been more moral [Note: Matthew 21:31; Matthew 19:20. contrasted with Luke 7:37; Luke 7:47 and 1 Timothy 1:13.] — — — Not that God disregards morality, where it flows from proper principles, and has respect to his glory: but his grace is his own [Note: Matthew 20:15.]; and he will impart it to whomsoever he will [Note: Romans 9:15.], without accounting himself responsible to any for the distribution of his favours [Note: Job 33:13.Romans 9:20.].

This exactly accords with the experience of the primitive saints [Note: See 2 Samuel 7:18; 1 Corinthians 1:26.], and with the Church of God in every age and place — — —]

II.

The extent of his love—

[If it were told us that God would shew mercy to our fallen race, what should we have been led to expect at his hands? We should scarcely have raised our thoughts higher than an exemption from punishment. Indeed, this is the limit which unenlightened men universally assign to God’s mercy; “He is merciful, therefore he will not punish.” But who would have ever thought, that he should so love us, as to give his only dear Son to die for us? — — — Who would have conceived, that he should moreover send his Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts as our instructor, sanctifier, and comforter? — — — Who would have imagined that he should give himself to us, with all that he is, and all that he has, as our present and everlasting portion? — — — Is not all this “as much above our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth?”]

III.

The methods by which he accomplishes towards us the purposes of his grace—

[Supposing us informed that God would take us to heaven, we should be ready to think, that certainly he would deliver us at once from temporal affliction, and more especially from spiritual conflicts. Would it ever enter our minds, that the objects of his eternal love should be left to endure the pressures of want, or the agonies of a cruel death? Could we once imagine, that they should be exposed, year after year, to the assaults of Satan: and be suffered, on many occasions, to wound their consciences, to defile their souls, and to grieve his good Spirit, by the commission of sin? Yet these are the ways in which he deals with them, and it is by these means that he “fulfils in them the good pleasure of his goodness [Note: God does not approve of sin, or tempt to sin: but he makes use of the sins which men commit, to humble them in the dust, and to magnify his own superabounding mercy. Romans 5:20. Thus he permitted the fall of Peter, and overruled it for good, Luke 22:31.; but that permission neither excused, nor extenuated Peter’s guilt. The sin was the same, whether it were pardoned or punished: but the grace of Christ was eminently displayed in the pardon of it; and backsliders have over since derived much encouragement from thence (not to deny their Lord, but) to repent, and turn to God.].” Nor is this a mere arbitrary appointment: for, by these means, he discovers to us far more abundantly the riches of his grace, and affords us more ample grounds for praise and thanksgiving [Note: The deliverance vouchsafed to the Israelites was not a little enhanced by their oppression in Egypt, and their subsequent embarrassments.]. The way is circuitous indeed; but it is the right way to the promised land [Note: Psalms 107:7.]

Improvement—
1.

How should we magnify and adore our God for the blessings of his grace!

[Well may every child of God exclaim with wonder, What manner of love is this wherewith thou hast loved me, that thou shouldest give thine only dear Son to redeem me by his blood, and thine eternal Spirit to sanctify me by his grace? In the review of his own life he may well add, ‘Why me, Lord? why hast thou chosen me, and borne with me, and plucked me as a brand out of the burning? Why too hast thou used such methods for my recovery and salvation?’ Yes verily, in the review of all these mercies, he must of necessity exclaim, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and let all that is within me bless his holy name.”]

2. How submissive should we be under the darkest dispensations of his Providence!

[While we are saying, with Jacob, “All these things are against me,” perhaps the very dispensations, of which we so complain, are absolutely necessary to our eternal welfare [Note: Perhaps something which has met us unexpectedly has been, like Abigail, God’s messenger to keep us from some deadly sin. 1 Samuel 25:17.]. Let this thought silence every murmur, and encourage us to say, even in the most afflictive circumstances, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him [Note: Job 13:15.].”]

3. How should we acknowledge God even in the most trivial occurrences!

[There is no occurrence really trivial, or unimportant: for there is such a concatenation of causes and effects fixed in the Divine purpose, that the most important events depend on circumstances, which seem to us altogether trifling and contingent [Note: Luke 19:3; Luke 19:9.]. Let the life of Joseph be surveyed, and we shall find that a thousand different things, apparently casual and independent, concurred to accomplish God’s promises towards him. Thus it is with respect to us; and it is our privilege to “acknowledge God in all our ways,” and to commit ourselves wholly to his guidance.]

4. What a glorious place will heaven be!

[There the whole of the Divine dispensations towards us will be opened to our view. There Gods “ways, which were in the great deep, and his footsteps, which were not known,” nor perhaps capable of being comprehended by us in this world, will be clearly seen. O! what wonders of love and mercy shall we then behold! With what rapture shall we then exclaim, O the depths [Note: Romans 11:33.]! Let us then wait a few days; and the most painful events of this life shall be a source of everlasting joy.]