Encouraging Words-It's About Who God Is, Not What He Does

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
Matthew 22:37 (NIV)

Do you ever read something that you really knew, but just the way it is said and the timing of your reading it cause it to just explode in your mind, perhaps even your heart?  That happened to me this week as I was reading "Plan B: What Do You Do When God Doesn't Show Up the Way You Thought He Would" by Pete Wilson.  Here's the sentence that jumped off the page and shot me right in the heart:

"Our faith must rest on God's identity, not His activity."

Let that soak in for a moment.  Another way of saying that is we must have faith in God because He's God, not because of what we think he will or want Him to do or has done in our lives.  That's where Isaiah 55:9 comes in.  When we are sitting at home lonely because we do not have a spouse, or we continue in what seems like an endless cycle of unemployment, or we are in chronic pain, it is natural and understandable for our faith to be shaken.  It is also wrong.

When our life hasn't turned out like WE thought it should or we are having problems WE don't think we should have, it is easy to question God.  Why haven't you healed me Lord?  Why am I so lonely Lord?  This is faith based on God's activity.  Isaiah 55:9 reminds us that we will not understand God's ways.  Honestly, if I could figure Him out, I'd probably look for another God--I want Him to be operating at a much higher level than I do.  As a result, He will often remain a mystery this side of Heaven.  If our faith fluctuates based on how pleasing the Lord's actions are to us, we are limiting the impact He can have in our lives, especially during the difficult times when we need Him the most yet our faith would be at it's lowest ebb.

God is always God and he will always love us.  Jesus told us to love Him with all our hearts and minds, and he left out the part about how it was okay to do that more when life was good, and pull back when things weren't going so well.  The Lord never ebbs and flows into our lives, but our faith can.  I would offer that the best way to be steadfast in our faith is to simply remember that Jesus is Lord, God is God, and to worship Him for who He is.  If we have found his recent activity in our lives less than satisfactory, I'm sure He can explain that to us when we are all together in Glory.  For now, know that our circumstances will change, but He won't.  I encourage everyone to keep it simple and focus on the basics--just love and adore Him, for He is God.