The gifts we possess

He told me to tell you that

There is a fundamental precept in Scripture that we quote and we post on refrigerator magnets but we don’t get it. If we ever do get it, it will be a game changer.

Here’s the precept, “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)

That leaves a mark and requires we confess and repent of our pride. God told Job, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell Me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7)

I know these things, I know that I am nothing but dust, that life is a mist, here today and gone tomorrow but I don’t apply these beliefs. If I did I would not ask why or complain or wish things were different. I know life is hard and then we die. I don’t ever blame God but I know some do and that’s okay—kind of.

Lots of preachers in Scripture have shaken their fist at heaven—I’m not recommending you do that, I’m just saying God’s big enough to handle it and if you need a rebuke you will get it. God isn’t mad at us. He loves, and because He loves us He disciplines us when necessary. I have spent more time behind the wood shed with the Lord than I care to admit.

I was praying last Thursday. I’m a preacher; it’s what I do. And God blessed me as He spoke to me—prayer is a dialogue not a monologue; it is a conversation.

He said, “Kenny,” (that’s what God calls me along with my mother, Kenny), “you are not in charge of the world, let it go.” In fact, God is in charge and things are not my way or the way I think they should be because His thoughts and ways are much higher than mine. Does that make sense?

I have a “point of view” but God has “view.” He flies at a higher altitude than I do and so He sees things I don’t see.

We serve an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God. That old saying, “God’s got this” is true. My frustrations and my worries are nothing more than a lack of faith. Without faith I can’t please God so I pray and as I get off my knees things may not be right in my eyes, but I’m trusting the One who has this messy and messed up world in His hands.

He told me to tell you that.