“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD” – Isaiah 55:8
In the early years of the 19th century, Sir Walter Scott, poet and novelist, took a voyage around the north and west coasts of Scotland in company with Robert Stevenson, the famed lighthouse constructor. Scott went for pleasure, and wherever they landed, spent his time visiting ruined castles, talking with the old gossips of the hamlets, and picking up local traditions, which he afterward wove into his fascinating stories. Stevenson was sent out by Trinity House to survey the coast, mark out dangerous reefs, and choose the best sites for lighthouses. Scott landed when the weather was fair and the sea smooth. Stevenson faced the gales in open boats, visited jagged rocks over which the surf boiled, and braved countless dangers because he was commissioned to find out where warning beacons must be fixed and lighthouses placed and how, in the coming generations, imperiled lives could be saved.
When the storm outside shakes doors and windows, we sit by the fireside, deriving pleasure from the writings of Scott, but the seaman battling with the waves finds salvation through the thought and work of Stevenson. The two men were the best of friends and, as they met day by day, had many interests in common. But their thoughts ran in different directions because Scott had no responsibilities and was catering to the tastes of his admiring readers, whilst Stevenson bore upon his soul a great burden of human life. Their paths diverged, for their duties varied, and their minds were acting in different grooves. God thinks with the burdens of a doomed race resting upon His soul of love and acts to ransom them from the power of destruction.
God’s thoughts and ways are beyond ours, even as the heavens are higher than the earth. Today, in prayer, give praise to the Lord that His ways are best.
“The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend.” – A.W. Tozer
God’s Word: “How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!” – Psalm 92:5
A Few Clouds, 61°