Whenever and wherever there is a controversy between God and a man, God is always right and the man always wrong. "So that you may be proved right in your words and prevail in your judging" (Psalms 51:4). The only way any man can be right is to come over onto God's side. Whoever sticks to his own side is forever wrong. The points at which God's way and man's intersect are likely to be four (though there may be others), and we will usually find our differences with God to occur somewhere in these four areas. First, our thoughts. Divine inspiration has declared that the thoughts of man are vain, and in the prophecy of Isaiah, God sets His case before us so plainly that comment is hardly necessary: "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).

A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

Embracing God's Thoughts

For Reading and Meditation:      Isaiah 55:6-13We continue examining the psalmist's graphic description of the so-called successful "man of the world": "Their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish, and the imaginations of their minds overflow with follies. They scoff and wickedly utter oppression; they speak loftily - from on high, maliciously and blasphemously. They set their mouths against and speak down from Heaven, and their tongue swaggers through the earth - invading even Heaven with blasphemy and smearing earth with slanders" (Psalm 73:7-9, Amplified Bible). How perfectly these words describe the person who brazenly flaunts his arrogance and rides roughshod over the rights of others. Note the phrase, "their eyes stand out with fatness", or, as the International Bible Commentary puts it: "Their beady eyes bulged through folds of fat as they busily schemed. Superior and cynical, they engaged in malicious talk and threats." We see the same kind of people today --irreligious, self-centred men and women who live only for themselves and view God as an irrelevance. Why does God allow them to get away with such attitudes and behaviour? Perplexing, isn't it? We must realise, however, that it is only perplexing because we are dealing with the ways of an eternal Being whose thoughts and designs are infinitely greater than our own - as the text at the top of this page clearly tells us. Think about this as you make your way through the day: half our perplexities would never arise if we were prepared not to understand immediately the things that God does or the things that God allows. O Father, what unnecessary perplexities we carry within us because we try to trace the reasons that lie behind Your designs rather than just trust them. Help us in our quest for a more confident faith. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Daniel 4:1-37</li><li>Hosea 14:9</li><li>Habakkuk 3:6</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How did God deal with Nebuchadnezzar?</li><li>What was his final conclusion?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord." (v. 8) 

For Reading and Meditation:      Psalm 145:1-20We ended yesterday by saying that the fact God knows everything ought to strengthen our faith and cause us to bow in adoration before Him. Yet how little do we reflect on this divine perfection. Those who are inclined to rebel against God hate this aspect of His Being and would do away with it if they could. They wish there might be no Witness to their sin, no Searcher of their hearts, no Judge of their deeds. How solemn are the words of the psalmist recorded in Psalm 90:8: "You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence." To the believer, however, the truth of God's omniscience (all knowledge) ought to be one of tremendous comfort and security. In times of perplexity we ought to say like Job: "He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). Whatever might be going on in our lives that is profoundly mysterious to us and quite incomprehensible to those who are around us, we must never lose sight of the fact that "He knows the way that [we] take." Right down the running ages God's people have consoled themselves time and time again with the fact that God knows everything about them. The psalmist, when seeking to stir his soul to confidence and hope, reminded himself in the midst of his weakness and weariness: "He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14). And Simon Peter, when his failure brought him almost to the point of despair and the searching question came "Do you love me?" said: "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you" (John 21:17).Father, help me reflect on this fact that You know everything, for I see that the more I understand it the more secure I will feel in my soul. Teach me still more, dear Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Isaiah 55:1-9</li><li>Hebrews 4:12-13</li><li>1 John 3:20</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What statement did God make?</li><li>What did the writer to the Hebrews confirm?</li></ul></div></div>

"They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works." (v. 5)

For Reading and Meditation:      Isaiah 55:1-13After seeing in Genesis 1 that God is all-powerful, the next thing we observe about God is that He is personal.But what does it mean to be a person? What predicates personality? The best definition of personality I know is the one given to me by the tutor who taught me theology: "To be a person we have to be able to think, to reason, to feel, to judge, to choose and to communicate in words that constitute a language." Richard Swinburne, a theologian, observes that people use language not only to communicate and for private thought, but to argue, to raise a consideration, to object to another. Unlike animals which show evidence only of wanting food and drink, people can want not to want something, like a fasting man, for example, wanting not to want food. Now with that in mind - that one of the constituents of personality is the ability to think and speak - read the first chapter of Genesis once again. Notice how many times the words appear: "God said." Count them. God is portrayed to us as a speaking God, and speech being one of the constituent parts of personality this proves that the Deity is a personal Being. We are not long into Genesis before we are brought face to face with the fact that there is more to God than mere power; the Almighty is a Person. This means, among other things, that the Almighty cannot be studied from a "safe" distance. Because He is a Person He is someone who wants and waits to be "known."Loving heavenly Father, how thankful I am that You made me like Yourself - to know and be known. May my strongest desire be to know You, not merely to know myself. For it is only when I know You that I can most truly know myself. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Genesis 1:1-31</li><li>Job 33:13-14</li><li>1 Kings 19:12</li><li>Ezekiel 43:2</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How many times does it say 'God said'?</li><li>How did Ezekiel describe God's voice?</li></ul></div></div>

" so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (v. 9)

For Reading and Meditation:      1 Corinthians 2:6-16We have been seeing that by going "into the sanctuary" - the place where God had made provision to meet with His people - the psalmist has put himself in a position where his perspectives can be changed. This section of the psalm is probably the most vital part, for it is here that his thinking begins to change from natural thinking to spiritual thinking. He had been thinking like a natural man, considering life from just one perspective, but in the sanctuary he begins to see life from God's point of view. What is the difference between natural thinking and spiritual thinking? Natural thinking is on the level of the earth - the level of man; spiritual thinking is on a higher level altogether - the level of God. It is surprising that so many Christians think naturally about their problems rather than spiritually. The psalmist was a good and godly man but under the pressure of circumstances he had reverted to thinking naturally about his problem. We will never learn to live effectively until we understand that the whole of life is spiritual, not just parts of it. In the chapter before us today the apostle asks, in effect, why it was that none of the rulers of this world recognised the Lord Jesus Christ when He was here. It was because they looked at Him from a natural perspective - they saw only a carpenter. Without the Holy Spirit operating upon their minds, they just could not understand. Ultimately, the problems and difficulties of life are all spiritual; so the sooner we learn to think spiritually, the better we will be. Gracious and loving heavenly Father, I realise that if I am to become a spiritual thinker I must allow You to think in me. I have given You my heart, help me now to give You my mind. Think in me, dear Lord. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Isaiah 55:1-13</li><li>Romans 12:2</li><li>Jeremiah 29:11</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did God declare to Israel?</li><li>How can we be transformed?</li></ul></div></div>

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God " (v. 14) 

Isaiah 55:1-13The Bible seeks in every possible way - to make men know the divine love and mercy. A great novelist in one of his stories tells of a child who ran away from her home. Every night when it grew dark a candle was set in the window of the old home and left to burn there all night, that the lost one, if ever she crept back, repentant, desiring to return - might see the light and know that it meant a welcome for her, that love's place was kept for her within.The Bible is like a great palace standing on some mountain top in the center of a dark world. It has a thousand windows in it opening on all sides, and in every one of them a bright light shines, to tell earth's lost and weary ones, wandering in the gloom - of a home where they may find a welcome - if they but come to its door.The fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah is one of these Bible windows. The chapter opens with a call which falls on the ear of the lost like sweet music. "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come!"There is a story of a thirsty traveler wandering in the desert. He had a compass in his hand - but knew not whether its needle pointed toward a place of refreshment, or to a spot in which he must lie down and perish. He was utterly in despair. Turn which way he would, he seemed to be only wandering farther and farther away from hope. He had sunk down in the sands of despair, when a little leaf came, wafted by a passing breeze, and fell beside him. He picked it up, and new hope took possession of his heart. The leaf told him of life. It could not have come far, for it was still fresh and green. At the place from which it came - there must be water, shade, and food. He knew the direction, too, for the breeze had borne it. So with the little leaf firmly clutched in his feverish hand - he rose and hastened in the direction whence the leaf had come, and soon was resting in the shelter of a green tree and quenching his thirst from the springs that gushed at the tree's roots! Like that little green leaf, dropping out of heaven, comes the call from God, of the opening words of this chapter to those who are weary and thirsty in spirit. Where it comes from - there must be water, food, and rest! It is divine love that sends it!The call for attention, "Ho!" is a call to life. It commands attention. It would arrest the most careless, those who are heedless and indifferent. It has a message, too; it is not an empty call. "Come to the waters! And he who has no money - come!" The invitation is universal. "Every one." It is to the poor as well as to the rich. "He who has no money." It meets the universal human need. It fits the actual craving of men. "Every one that thirsts!" Who does not thirst? Who has not deep needs burning in his soul?The blessing offered is precisely adapted to the need. "Come to the waters!" What water is to physical thirst - Christ is to men's spiritual needs. This world's vanities do not satisfy - but what Christ gives, quenches all their thirst!Then there is more than water, more than refreshing. "Wine and milk!" These are symbols of nourishment and exhilaration. All is free, too! "Without money!" Nothing has to be paid for these blessings. Indeed, no money could purchase them. Only earth's baubles can be bought with gold or silver. Yet, although free, there is a very real sense in which these blessings of salvation must be bought. "Buy, and eat." Money will not buy them - but like the man who sold all he had, to purchase the field with the hidden treasure in it - we must give up everything to get Christ. We must pay ourselves, our life - to win Him.One of the saddest things in human life, is the wild search for things which will not satisfy men's real needs. "Why do you spend money for that which is not bread?" It does seem strange indeed, that men never learn the folly of trying to find bread for their spiritual nature - in what this world has to give. They have deep cravings and they try to satisfy them with money, power, pleasure, or fame. But these things are not bread for the soul - and immortal lives cannot feed upon them. A hungry man is not satisfied by finding gold or pearls - it is bread he wants. What can money do - for one who is in deep spiritual distress, or when remorse embitters his life, or when he sits in deep sorrow by the coffin of his dead; or when, facing death himself, he looks into eternity? Nothing but Christ will do in such moments! An angel cannot be fed upon earth's viands. Just so, a human soul finds no satisfaction in the possession of this world's trinkets!What the gospel offers is real bread, because it satisfies the heart's cravings. God's blessing comes to us through God's Word. "Hear - and your soul shall live!" We are to listen to the invitations of divine grace. But there is a time when we must give heed to these divine calls - or it will be too late. "Seek Jehovah while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near!" The candle burns now in the window - but it will not always burn there. "Whoever will - may come," runs the Bible invitation - but there will come a time when it will be too late to answer the call - a time when God may not be found, when He will not be near - when the door will be shut!There is only one way of accepting the invitation. We cannot take it - and keep our sins. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah." We cannot be saved - and still keep our evil thoughts in our hearts and go on in our evil ways. God is very willing to take our sins, putting them away forever - but He will not take our sins, without ourselves. We must give up our evil ways, even our wrong thoughts, and must serve God.Men's hearts by nature are hard, like trodden fields. But even the hardest heart, God's grace can soften. "As the rain comes down and the snow from heaven ... so shall My word be." We all know how the rain softens the dry and hardened ground. Its drops go to the roots of the withering grass and the fading flowers - and soon new life appears everywhere. So it is when God's Word falls upon a human life. It makes the barren life, fruitful. Sometimes it lies like snow on the earth, not melting for a time. The results of holy teaching do not always appear at once. But as at last the snows melt and fill streams and rivers; so God's Word in a life - will some day find its way down into the heart and bless it. Heavenly lessons have lain for scores of years, producing no effect; yet, at last, when the warm love of God touched the life - it brought forth beautiful fruits.

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

Isaiah 55:1-13

The Gracious Invitation

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways,” declares the Lord. “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8,9 GW)

God's thoughts about things are
very different from ours. We would often allow what God would
never allow. He has an altogether different point of view about
things. We judge in one way about things, and God judges in
another. It is necessary for us to come to God's standpoint. "Oh,"
we would say, "There is no harm in such-and-such a thing. Oh,
there is no wrong in that; look at So-and-so and So-and-so," and
we take our standard, perhaps, from other people. We have known
people to do that; point to some outstanding figure in the work
of God, in whose life was a certain thing - that one has been
taken as the model, to be copied, and so the thing has been taken
on. "Oh, there is no harm in it; look at So-and-so." And I have
known lives and ministries to be ruined on that very excuse. 

The
question is: What does the Lord say about it? God says, "Walk
before Me!" Not before any human model; not before any human
standard; "There is no harm in it; So-and-so does it; it is quite
a common practice." No, no! "Walk before Me," says the
Lord. We have got to get this in the spirit, in the inward man.
It is deeper than our best moral standards. Otherwise there is no
point in it being in the Bible at all, if our moral standards can
rise to God's satisfaction - why must we be so handled and
reconstituted? It is deeper than our intellect, than our reason.
You cannot, by reason or intellect, arrive at God's standard at
all. Not at all! Oh, do not think that by any method of
reasoning, you are ever going to reach God's standard. You never
will. Here, it is only by revelation of the Holy Spirit. Christ
has got to be revealed in our hearts by the Spirit. There is no
point in Jesus saying: "When He, the Spirit of truth, is
come, He shall guide you into all the truth," if we could
get there by our own intelligence. Not at all. It must come by
the revelation of Christ in our hearts, in the inward parts.
This is something spiritual. "God is Spirit; they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth"
- spirit and truth go together. Only what is spiritual, what is
of God, is truth - only that!

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

Truth in the Inward Parts

 Spirit and Truth in the Inward Parts 

Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness.” § I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. § I will visit you and perform My good word toward you … For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. § I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause—who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. § Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 Remember me, my God, for good. 

The Lord is not slow to fulfil His promises as some count slowness.For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  

We … do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. § That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! § “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.” § Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

 Your thoughts are very deep. 

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. § “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.” How precious … are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. § O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. § Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us. Not many mighty, not many noble, are called. § Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom? § Having nothing, and yet possessing all things. § The unsearchable riches of Christ.

Evening Daily Light

 I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. 

Have faith in God. § Without faith it is impossible to please Him. § With God all things are possible. Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? “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.” § “Try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. § Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power. We should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.

 If the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? 

9 <poetry>“As the heavens are higher than the earth, <indent>so are my ways higher than your ways</indent> <indent>and my thoughts than your thoughts. </indent> </poetry>

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,<cr>1</cr> <indent>so are my ways higher than your ways</indent> <indent>and my thoughts than your thoughts.<cr>2</cr> </indent>

Isaiah 55:9

 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,   so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.   

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

<poetry>“As the heavens are higher than the earth, <indent>so are my ways higher than your ways</indent> <indent>and my thoughts than your thoughts. </indent> </poetry>

 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,   so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.   

Bible Verse of the Day

August 5, 2023

Isaiah 55:9 NIV

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