Higher

             “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)

 

Higher? What does that mean? We’re told there was a time when people thought that the heavens were up in the sky, maybe in outer space, and hell was beneath the ground. In fact, the whole idea of ziggurats is to provide how gods could descend to the earth. Maybe some people still believe it. Somehow, that seems about as likely as that the earth is flat.

Another possibility is that heaven has higher authority or rank or that it is more expansive and comprehensive. We begin in lower grades in school and graduate after we’ve gone through the higher grades. The federal government is higher than the city government. We also consider things and people as high class or low class. While some may complain that any “higher” or “lower” status is purely artificial, but though in some instances they are, it does not follow that they are in all instances.

But let’s bring this down to the practical and personal. We tend to like to think we’ve got it covered. We know it all. We understand. But often, the reality is that we don’t understand. Sometimes we know what we’ve been told by people we believe do understand, and therefore, we believe we understand, but just because someone has a title doesn’t mean that they understand, and just because we quote them doesn’t mean we do. But we live our lives based on our confidence in their understanding.

So why is it so hard for us to get our egos out of the way and have confidence in God’s understanding?