The Ways of God

Yesterday I shared about guidance and wisdom - how the Lord guides in such a way that enhances our maturity, rather than stifling it (see "Hearing the Voice of God"). At the end of yesterday's post I quoted Moses' words from Exodus 33:13:

"If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you..."

Like Moses, my desire is to know the Lord in a far deeper way (Philippians 3:10) and continue to find favour with him (Hebrews 11:6). In order for this to happen, I must, like Moses, discover "the ways of God" and learn to walk in those ways. For as I shared in "The Lord Is My Shepherd - Part 1", the Lord's purpose in guidance is not simply to give me spot directions when I need them (Should I take this job? Should I marry this person? Should I do this? Should I do that?), but to "lead me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake", even if these paths might lead through "the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4-5).

I'm needing to make decisions soon regarding chemotherapy and other treatments, but for me this is not just a matter of wanting to make a "right choice." It's primarily about learning the ways of God. And so I want to share on this subject today - something I preached on just a few weeks ago at Evangelical Community Church.

It all started for me, personally, when I was reading Isaiah 55:8-9 in my morning devotions...

"'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.'"

The usual interpretation most Christians have when they read this passage is: "God is so far beyond us that we will never really understand him. He does things we don't understand because 'his ways are higher than our ways.'" This was my interpretation too, until I began to read this verse in its context. Isaiah 55:6-7 says:

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."

When the Lord goes on to say that "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," he is comparing his way with the way of "the wicked" and his thoughts with the thoughts of "the evil man." In the same way, when the Lord says, "my ways higher than your ways," he is saying that his ways are higher than the ways he had previously instructed the wicked to forsake, and when he says, "my thoughts than your thoughts," he is saying that his thoughts are higher than the thoughts that he has just told the evil man to turn from. Far from meaning that his ways are incomprehensible, he is meaning that his ways are superior!

This meaning is borne out by the rest of Scripture. For example, take a look at the following verses:

• Deuteronomy 10:12 - "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

• Deuteronomy 26:17 - "You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him."

• Deuteronomy 28:9 - "The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways."

• Deuteronomy 30:16 - "For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess."

• Joshua 22:5 - "But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."

In other words, God doesn't just expect us to know his ways, but to also walk in his ways! In fact, God specifically instructed Israel, prior to entering the promised land, that this was his expectation for them. Rather than being something beyond their reach, God fully expected the people of Israel to learn his ways, like Moses, and to walk in them. The problem, however, was that Israel fell far short of this expectation. Hebrews 3:7-9 tells us:

"So, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did."

The "time of testing in the desert" that this verse refers to, is the "forty years" of wandering experienced by the people Israel due to disobedience. During that time, although Israel had been exposed to the acts of God, they did not understand his ways, let alone walk in them. For even though "for forty years they saw what I did", says the Lord, they did not understand why God did what he did. Hebrews 3:10-11 then goes on to say:

"That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest."

This was God's diagnosis of the primary problem. The disobedience and rebellion of the people of Israel was due to the fact that "they have not known my ways."

I, for one, don't want to have God diagnose me with the same malady. It's one thing to be diagnosed with a physical ailment, such as cancer, but it's entirely another thing to be diagnosed with a spiritual ailment, such as a hardness of the heart (Matthew 13:15; Ephesians 4:18; Hebrews 3:7-9). I want to be like Moses, whose desire was to know and walk in the ways of God, not like the majority of Israel who, although they saw the miracles and deliverance of God, neither comprehended nor walked in the ways of God (note Psalm 103:7).

The Lord maintains the same expectation for you as he always had - that you will learn to walk in his ways. Take a look at these verses:

• Psalm 25:4 - "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths."

• Psalm 25:8 - "Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

• Ephesians 2:1-2 - "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

• Hosea 14:9 - "Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them."

• Isaiah 2:3 - "Many peoples will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths..."

• Isaiah 30:21 - "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

The ways of God are not broad and easy (like a multi-laned freeway), but narrow and focused (like a sheep track). But what is this "small gate" and "narrow way" that Jesus was speaking of? In John 10:7,9, Jesus identified the "small gate":

"...I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep...I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture."

And in John 16:4, Jesus qualified the nature of this way when he declared:

"...I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

As I wait on the Lord for his wisdom this week, I'm looking beyond a desire to see his hand at work in my life; my desire is to understand his heart. I want to move beyond merely witnessing his acts; I want to understand his ways, so that I may walk in them.