When our desire is to live in step with His plan, we can have confidence that, even when bad things happen, God is still in control. We see a portion of the jumbled back of the tapestry God is the Weaver at the loom. We see only our small piece of the puzzle God sees the finished work. God’s ways are higher than our ways because His ways are always part of a bigger plan. In God’s “higher ways,” everything happens for a reason and will be woven into the fabric of God’s good plan for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). The Bible gives little room for the idea of coincidence (Proverbs 16:33 Psalm 37:23). But those who trust the Lord can rest in the confidence that God is at work. The man “from a far-off land” may not himself understand why he is moving across the world. What I have said, that I will bring about what I have planned, that I will do.” We may not know why God needs a “bird from the east” or why He would want to use a man like Cyrus. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.

In Isaiah 46:9–11, the Lord lays out His sovereign plan to use the Persian king Cyrus: “I am God, and there is no other I am God, and there is none like me. But from heaven looking down, we see a plan unfolding. Instead, God invites us to come up higher and learn to see life from His perspective.įrom earth looking up, we see only confusion. When we try to make sense of these events with our natural minds, we won’t get anywhere. God has allowed some of His faithful servants to suffer terrible fates, even though He could have delivered them if He chose (Hebrews 11:32–40). He sent an angel to let Peter out of jail (Acts 12:6–10), but He allowed James to be executed (Acts 12:2). He made the sun stand still so Joshua’s army could defeat their enemies (Joshua 10:12–13). He parted the Red Sea because it fit His plan for Israel (Exodus 14:21 Psalm 66:6). His ways are not merely different from ours, they are higher. Instead, God left us a clue in the word higher. If we try to understand God’s ways from earth looking up, we won’t find many answers. That’s what we must do with God when His ways are beyond our comprehension. He rests on his mother in complete humility and trust in her superior wisdom and provision. But he trusts her and loves her because he knows she loves him. She may correct him, take him to the doctor for vaccinations, and tell him “no” when he wants something very much. A just-weaned child does not understand everything his mother does. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother like a weaned child I am content” (verses 1–2). The key to finding peace with ways that we don’t understand is in Psalm 131: “My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. So we beat on heaven’s door with our demand for answers, and no answer comes but this one: “My ways are higher than your ways.”

We question God’s ways when young people die, when tragedies strike righteous people, when the wicked prosper (see Psalm 73).

His ways are higher than our ways, and His actions often do not make sense to our earth-bound minds. How can we fully trust a God we don’t understand? How can we have faith when God’s ways seem even cruel at times? When we try to comprehend God’s ways, we can become frustrated. The human heart is filled with questions for God: “Why?” “When?” “How?” We often wrestle with faith because of those questions. God’s thoughts and His ways don’t always make sense to us, but we can rest in the knowledge that He is always good, and, therefore, everything He does is good (Psalm 13:6 100:5). The psalmist exclaimed, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17). As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God’s infinite thoughts are far greater than our limited ability to comprehend them. Isaiah 55:8–9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.

My thoughts are not your thoughts esv