“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
I can’t assume that I know what God is doing in my life – his ways are not my ways. This is a humbling and can be a frustrating reminder for those who are asking God to act in specific ways. In times when life has been hard or confusing, it can look as though things just keep going wrong, regardless of my prayers and regardless of how fervently I sought good.
What is God doing?
The most honest answer: I don’t know, but He does.
He knows, He sees, He works sovereignly, and He works for good.
Will I cling to the tiny, partial puzzle piece of what I can see in this moment, or will I trust the One who sees the entire picture?
I wrote the poem below a couple of few years ago when I was struggling with where my life was at – I was single when I didn’t want to be, I had a job I didn’t want, and God has placed me in a number of situations where I had to let go of everything I hoped my life would be. It was a (creative) way of acknowledging the struggle in my heart, accepting where God had placed me, and reminding myself heart to surrender to the One who is writing my story:
When the Harvest Fails
I came to the fields to sow some seed,
hoping for a harvest to succeed,
but when I stood before the hardened ground
no seeds and no harvest were to be found.
I prayed to the God of the harvest
that He would provide as He had promised,
but as I looked upon barren lands
no life and no strength was in my hands.
Everything that I hoped for was gone
and I cried, “My God, what have you done?”
I heard no great thunder in response
and no resolve to my circumstance.
In agony my anxious heart prevailed;
I tried to understand why good had failed.
As I angrily and anxiously prayed,
I heard a quiet voice in my soul say,
“Will you wrestle in vain with your lot,
or will you be still and know that I am God?”
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