His Ways With Us

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:88For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)).
Another way I have been enlarged in affliction is the realization of the perfection of the Lord’s ways and dealings with me. So often we do not understand why the Lord allows certain things in our lives at the time. (If we understood everything and had all the answers we wouldn’t need faith.) While there may be many things we never understand this side of heaven, yet often in retrospect the Lord shows us the reason why. The following personal account will make my point:
From the time I was a child I had the same family doctor until he retired. At that point the only doctor I could get was in a city about thirty-five miles south of where I live. This was somewhat frustrating, but for all I needed a doctor it was no big deal. Then fifteen years later I realized why the Lord allowed it. When I needed serious medical attention and surgery it all happened in the city where my family doctor practiced. Because of this I had the best of doctors and the best of care. Praise the Lord for His perfect ways! I can only echo with the inspired writer, “As for God, His way is perfect” (Psalm 18:3030As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. (Psalm 18:30)).
King Solomon, looking at things from a natural standpoint said, “That which is crooked cannot be made straight” (Ecclesiastes 1:1515That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. (Ecclesiastes 1:15)). Isn’t that the way we often feel? We look at circumstances and we say that’s never going to be straightened out. However, there is a glorious answer to all this in Isaiah where the inspired writer looks on to a future day of glory and manifestation. “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 40:4-54Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:4‑5)). Yes, those seemingly tangled circumstances are all going to be straightened out and show that He did indeed have our good at heart and our blessing in mind.
When the children of Israel were in the wilderness they often questioned the ways of God. They questioned why He had brought them this way and that, and why they had to encamp in certain places with no water or food for themselves, their families, and their livestock. But when their history is reviewed in Psalms 105, 106 and 107, we have things viewed more from the Lord’s perspective. There we read, “He led them forth by the right way” (Psalm 107:77And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. (Psalm 107:7)). That’s not what they said when they were in the situations, but it is the conclusion of the whole matter. I believe this is the way we will view things in a coming day when we see it all from His vantage point, and understand all the reasons. Then we will bow at His feet and praise and thank Him for all His ways with us.
In the meantime, if our hearts can be enlarged to accept and thank Him for His ways with us now we will save ourselves a great deal of frustration and complaining. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:55Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:5)). It may not be the way we would choose, but remember, His way is the very best.
His ways are always perfect,
His dealings with us too;
He knows the path that’s suited,
And right for me and you:
All, all is planned and patterned,
After His holy will;
He knows what’s best, and leads us,
Where He our hearts call fill.
The way may oft be twisted,
The way may oft seem strange;
But in His love and wisdom,
All has been thus arranged:
And when arrived in heaven,
And earthly paths reviewed,
We’ll understand it fully,
Our praises then renewed.