He is beyond me!

 As I worked my way through this past week, I was reminded that the ways of God are beyond my understanding!

“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 55:8-9)

This started me thinking about my frailties and my shortcomings in light of who He is. I am amazed when I think about how much He knows about me...my coming in and my going out, my sitting down and my standing, my thoughts before I even speak them. He even understands my motives better than I do! I have been married to the same man for nearly 35 years, and there are STILL things about him I don't understand; I don't know what he's thinking at any given moment, even though there are times I can finish his sentences. But, sometimes...”What is he doing?” crosses my mind...but God always knows!

I marvel at the creativity of humanity. I will listen to beautifully orchestrated music and I am amazed at the way layers of instrumentation come together, weaving in and out with different rhythms and dynamics, to create a tapestry of sounds that soothes the soul and generates scenes of beauty and grandeur. Or I look at a work of art like Michelangelo's David,

carved out of a solid block of granite, chiseled and smoothed by hand, somehow accentuating muscle and bone to create a life-like portrayal of the young man in his physical prime. But then...I marvel in awe and wonder at the One who gave the composer ability to put notes to paper and artist the skill to craft and shape and detail. None of us is a self-made man; the intricacies of the human body, the way new life is conceived, the way oxygen is transferred to the bloodstream through the lungs, the way the body knows how to absorb the nutrients it needs to carry on life, the way our eyes capture light and allow us to see His magnificent creation. My very breath is a gift from His hand. Man's creativity is as nothing before the One who fashioned him.

And what of love? This I fail to understand in my human limitations. I certainly find it easy to love those who love me, those with whom I find commonality and companionship. But what of those with whom I struggle? What about the people who irritate me and anger me, who take advantage of me...those who never respect me or thank me. In my own humanity, I struggle with loving the difficult and the unlovely. But somehow our Creator loves those who abuse Him and mock Him and disregard Him. His love is perfect...in stark contrast to my love, and I struggle to understand it.

We must never put God in a box, putting on Him the imperfections of our humanity. I may not, and cannot, assume the thoughts and motives of others, but nothing is hidden from Him; all things are laid bare before Him. I may not understand the creative mind within engineers and artists, composers and chemists, but I know the infinitely wise One who called all creation into being with a word. I cannot fathom the love of God for me, one who is so unworthy and so weak; it is beyond my understanding, but it doesn't make it any less true. God's ways are not man's ways. His wisdom, His power, His creativity, His justice, His love...these are the standard. May we never think God is not greater than what our finite, frail human minds can comprehend.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more 

than all we ask or imagine..."

Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)