”For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor 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 higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
I must confess, there have been many times throughout my 47 year long walk with Jesus, times that I have looked at the lay of the land around me and wondered if God really knew what He was up to. I find myself there again, as we are hunkering down in our homes in light of the Corona Virus Pandemic. My, how quickly things can change.
In November, my wife, Sandy, had to have emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction. The surgery was followed by nine days in ICU, with the first five being touch and go. There were nights I returned to our house, wondering if she would make it through the night. Upon her being discharged from the hospital, we were told that the blockage was caused by a cancerous tumor. The surgeon and oncologist were hoping that all of the cancer was removed by the surgery. As a result, the past four months have been filled with various medical tests, procedures, and scans. At this point, no other cancer is visible. And now, as we are just regaining our feet from that, along comes the Covid 19. Once again, our world is turned upside down, and something deep within asks, “What is going on here?”
I’ve walked with God long enough at this point in my life, that I have come to embrace the truth of Isaiah 55:8-9. That doesn’t mean that I understand God’s ways, what it does mean is that I have come to trust him when I do not understand. At this point in my Christian life, I’ve gone through many seasons that made no logical sense at all. Upon looking back on those times and events, I’ve been surprised again and again to discover how those times played into the present blessings of today.
As we began to wrestle with the Corona Virus Pandemic this week, I received the following quote from a parishioner, a quote taken from a sermon of mine that she heard many years ago, she thought it appropriate for the moment. “The kingdom of God advances through a series of glorious victories, cleverly disguised as disasters.” So now, I’m wondering, what glorious victories lie ahead?