January 11, 2019 -- Isaiah 55:8-9 -- Reaching to the heights of the LORD

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.

Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV

You do not read God in light of your experiences in this life; you read your experiences in life in the light of who God is.

J. Ligon Duncan III.

Many an athlete has this motto: "No pain, no gain". We understand that it takes resistance and weights, persistence and hard work, to conquer fat and build muscles. Yet, in our spiritual life we expect ease. As it takes great discipline in hard, persistent work to build physical health, so it takes great discipline in hard, persistent work to build spiritual strength.

God of Heaven You are immeasurably beyond our comprehension and knowledge. Thank You for revealing Your thoughts and Your ways in the Bible. Forgive us for the times we have neglected Your Word. Forgive us for the times we have tried to pull You down to our low expectations. Thank You for Jesus Christ, the best and greatest revelation of Who You Are. Thank You for the Spirit Who interprets Jesus through the testimony of the Bible so that we have a growing sense of Your magnificence, Your love, Your splendour, Your mercy and Your glory. Increase our hunger to know You better, deepen our thirst for the things of God so that we are driven to examine Your Word and believe ever more fully on Jesus Christ and in Him find our hunger sated and our thirst quenched. Amen.