Understanding the Ways of God: Part 1

understanding the ways of God

May your ways be known throughout the earth…. (Ps 67:2)

Can we truly understand the ways of God?

After all, as it says in Romans 11 and Isaiah 55, they are vastly different from ours. We even say in comforting one another, “God works in mysterious ways; His ways are not our ways.”

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! (Rom 11:33 NLT)

But let me ask you this:

Don’t you think God would be awfully mean if expected us to follow His ways, but didn’t tell us what they were?!

You cannot expect your children to obey without explaining what you want them to do!

Although we cannot understand everything about our great Creator, we can know—in increasing manner—who He is and how He works. And when we cannot understand what He’s doing, we can accept it and trust Him—that is, if we know His good character. In fact, our invisible God wants to be known in a deep and personal way so that we can trust Him and be willing to follow His ways (Eph 3:18-19, Col 1:9-10). And He tells us how in Jeremiah 29:

If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. (Jer 29:13-14)

God reveals Himself to those who wholeheartedly and diligently seek after Him. We are told repeatedly to pursue the things of God (Mat 6:33, Pr 2:1-15). Moses was one of those people.

He made known his ways [He revealed his character (NLT)] to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel (Ps 103:7 NIV)

Moses knew the ways of God because he spent lots of time communing with the Lord. God even called him His friend. On the other hand, the Israelites saw the awesome deeds of God,

but it didn’t make much difference in the way they lived.

Recall how they constantly complained even after seeing many wondrous miracles, including the parting of the Red Sea.

David was called a man after God’s own heart. Why? Because he sought the Lord and followed Him. As he said in Psalm 27:4:

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

Our God is knowable. He has shown us how to know Him and His ways in His precious Word. I have diligently searched the Scriptures and I found them—and Him! I have written about the principles and attitudes necessary to know, in an intimate way, this wonderful although invisible God in my book, Our Knowable God. Yet I am still seeking and finding out more and more about the ways of God each day! It’s downright exciting!

We will never understand everything there is to know about God and His ways. If we did, then we would be God! And I’m okay with not knowing everything about my transcendent Lord.

In this series I will be discussing what the term His way means, that God’s way is best and definitely worth it, and how to live God’s way.

I hope you will join me in this exciting series as we learn to understand the ways of God—and when we don’t, to be ok with it! And I challenge you, that when you learn about God’s ways…  

It’ll make difference in the way you live!

Until next time my friends, if you don’t want to wait till then, you can get started by going to my website page How to Go Deeper with God, God’s Way and by watching this video: God Wants to be Known. And of course you could get a copy of my book, Our Knowable God! You can read an excerpt here.

 

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.