Isaiah 55:6-9

            {Prayer}
            We all know the verse … or at least we think we do. “‘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).

            We all know what it means … or at least we think we do.

            When something happens that is unexplainable, when a prayer feels like it is going unanswered, when life takes a sudden turn in a way we didn’t expect … someone, maybe even you, says, “Well, God’s ways are not our ways.”

            Now, there is truth in that statement. God sees what we cannot see. He knows what we cannot know. His wisdom is infinitely beyond ours.

            But … is this really what Isaiah is talking about here in our Old Testament reading? I’m going to say no. But here’s the thing, when we pull those two verses away from what comes immediately before them, we can miss what Isaiah is actually telling us. We turn these verses into a statement about a God who we can’t understand.

            But if you look at them within the context of what is written before them, you’ll see that God is telling us something He very much wants us to understand about Himself.

            Isaiah writes, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).  

            I want you to notice that God isn’t saying, “You can’t understand Me.” Instead, He’s saying, “Let Me tell you what I am like.” What He reveals about Himself is this … God’s mercy is greater than you think.

            In order to see this, we need to break these verses down. Again, Isaiah says, “Let the wicked forsake his ways and the evil man his thoughts” (55:7). Take these words and apply them to the next verse. My ways are not God’s ways. My thoughts are not God’s thoughts. And here Isaiah is showing us one reason why: I’m a sinner.

            In the hymn we just sang, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” we confessed this very thing. “Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” I need God to tune my heart to sing His praises because, left to myself, my heart so easily turns back to me. And then we sang, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love.” That’s not somebody else’s confession. That’s mine. That’s yours. We wander. Sometimes we wander because we convince ourselves that our sin really isn’t that serious. Sometimes our sinful thoughts justify what we’ve done. Sometimes they condemn everyone around us. And sometimes they turn inward, “Lord, I’ve done it again. I should know better by now. Surely God is tired of this. Maybe I need to get my life straightened out before I come back.”

Prone to wander. And what does God say to wanderers?

Isaiah says, Forsake it. “Let the wicked forsake his ways … let the evil man forsake his thoughts.”

            Let the sinner forsake these things and then what? “Let him turn to the LORD …” (Isaiah 55:7). Who’s the “him”? The wicked. The evil man. The unrighteous.

            Notice, God doesn’t say …

            Let the wicked clean himself up and then return.
            Let him demonstrate sufficient improvement.
Let him prove that this time he really means it. …

            Is this what God says? Not at all. God doesn’t say any of those things. Instead, He says, “Let him turn, let him return to the LORD.” And why? So that God can “have mercy on him … for God will freely pardon, or abundantly pardon” (55:7)

            Notice … not merely pardon … abundantly pardon.

            We tend to have limits when it comes to others. “How could you do that again? I’ll forgive you this time but don’t do it again.” Or, “I’ll forgive you, but I won’t forget about this.”

            But even when we look in at ourselves … we imagine God’s patience must have limits, similar to ours. We begin to wonder, “Will God really forgive me being that I keep doing the same thing over and over again?”

            God says … “My thoughts are not your thoughts.”

            God’s mercy is greater than you think.

            We tend to think about forgiveness in terms of keeping accounts. Isaiah takes us deeper than the question, “How much should I forgive?” Isaiah shows us the very God who forgives us.

            “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8).

            The “for” that begins verse 8 matters. Isaiah has just said, “Let the wicked return. God will have compassion. God will abundantly pardon.”

And then comes that little word “for”.

            Why should the wicked return?
                        For God’s thoughts aren’t ours.
            Why should the unrighteous dare to approach Him?
                        For God’s ways aren’t ours.
            Why should we expect compassion rather than rejection?
                        For His mercy is greater than we think.

            God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s ways are not our ways. He abundantly pardons.

            Perhaps we’ve sometimes heard these verses almost backwards. We typically hear … God’s ways are not our ways; thus, God is mysterious.

            Isaiah says, God abundantly pardons, for God’s ways are not our ways.

We calculate. God has compassion.
We keep track. God abundantly pardons.
We think, ‘Surely that’s enough.’ God says, ‘Return.’
His ways are higher because His mercy is greater.

            Our God is not hiding from us. Isaiah says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (55:6).

            Isaiah’s invitation has urgency. Repentance isn’t something to postpone. God’s abundant mercy is not permission to remain in our sin. It is the reason the sinner can dare to return.

            We need to return. But notice where it is we are returning. We’re returning not to a God who is standing at a distance with folded arms waiting to see whether your repentance is sincere enough.

            Return … to the LORD who has compassion.

            As Christians, we know where God’s gracious heart toward sinners has been made known. We find this in Jesus.

            We don’t need to climb into heaven to discover what God secretly thinks about sinners. All we have to do is look to the cross. There God has shown you what His heart toward sinners is. Christ bears your sin. The innocent One stands in the place of the guilty. He dies your death. He rises and forgiveness is proclaimed in His name.

            The God whose thoughts are higher than ours has come down to us. The God whom Isaiah says is near has drawn near in Christ.

            And what does God do with sinners?

                        He forgives them.
                        He restores them.
                        He calls them His own.

            Maybe you’re like me and know perfectly well that you have wandered. Maybe there’s a sin you have confessed before and now, here you and I are, confessing it again. Maybe there is something that has happened in your past that still makes you wonder what God must think when He looks at you. Maybe you know what God promises, and yet somewhere deep inside you still wonder … surely there has to be a limit.

            God answers … “My thoughts are not your thoughts.”

            You think you need to run away. God says, “Return.”

            You think God has finally had enough. God says, “I have compassion.”

            You think your sin is greater than His willingness to forgive. God says, “I abundantly pardon.”

            God’s mercy is greater than you think. …

            “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”

            Return to Him. Because now you know what God does with sinners.

            He has compassion. He abundantly pardons. He has shown you in Jesus. Amen.

            Now the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.