"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8
In Hebrew, the word “Wonderful” means SURPRISE! Dear friend, our God is a God of surprises. Just when we think we’ve got him figured out, he tells us “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD (Isaiah 55:8). God is constantly looking for ways to surprise us, and like a loving parent who hides treats in Easter eggs waiting for the children’s faces to light up when they are discovered, God hides his surprises in his Word, waiting for us to discover them as we search earnestly for his truths.
The enemy wants us off-track and so he keeps us “busy.” We find ourselves overstretched and unfulfilled with too many commitments and such little time for rest in God’s presence and God’s Word. We whittle away seconds, minutes and then hours on the phone, on the TV, on our iPads, iPods, social media and all the other shiny gadgets “that we just cannot live without.” The principalities and powers of the world also get on band-wagon with trying to keep the glory of God’s Word under wraps (Isaiah 5:20.)
This conspiracy to veil or supplant the Truth will not prevail. Our God whose name is “Wonderful” has a hidden surprise in store in his final act. He will penetrate this darkness and shine his light, revealing his Truth to his Church. Like the loving parent, who guides his child as close to the hidden Easter egg as he/she can, God continues to guide us gently to himself and to his Word by his Holy Spirit so that we too might discover the hidden treasures therein.
Beloved, there will be nothing in your basket, unless you show up for the hunt (Jeremiah 29:13). You will not find the deepest, richest Truths just by showing up to church on Sunday morning. You must carve out time to ask, and allow him to direct you into the inner layers of his divine wisdom. But now is the time (2 Corinthians 6:2), the invitations have gone out, the party is on, the search is underway (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28) and the curtain call is coming. Join the throngs and allow this Wonderful God, this SURPRISING Savior, to guide you into his abundance and his Truth. He alone can give you the ending that you didn’t see coming by his mercy and his grace. Hallelujah!
Wonderful God, let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love for me. Let your presence arch over my life in the daytime and let your Truth grow in me at night. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.