Sovereignty and Children

Isaiah 55:6-9

6  "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

7  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I wanted to focus on verses 8 and 9, but I thought 6 and 7 were a good reminder as well. We have to seek, call, and forsake our old ways. This year these verbs have been sticking out of passages that I have been reading. God had commanded us to DO a lot of things. It doesn't earn our salvation, but as Paul says in Romans, "what, shall I go on sinning so that grace may abound? May it never be!" Our life is changed and thus, we should act differently. 

I also love how verses 6 and 7 talk about God's abundant pardon. I have also been noticing The Bible talks about God's exceeding grace, he is rich in mercy, he graciously gives us, he lavished upon us, Unsearchable riches, and His abundant pardon. What a wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord! 

All that is a side note to what I wanted to say. I have learn a lot about God's will and sovereignty from watching my children. He is my latest example. Warren has been rolling over, a lot. But once he is on his stomach, he gets angry and annoyed. So, I graciously stop what I am doing and push him back to his back. I warn him that he doesn't like his stomach. But does he listen? No, just because he knows how to do something, he thinks it is the best way. He flips over shortly and gets mad again. I also have to strap him in his chair now because he tries to escape. I know he might enjoy his freedom for a little while, but he would quickly become frustrated. 

This started me thinking about rules and events in my life I don't enjoy. Sometimes I make my life unpleasant because I think I know the right way and I don't follow God's way. Sometimes a rule seems bothersome, but it is there to keep me safe. I am thankful I have a Heavenly Father who doesn't grow weary or tired because I am so often like a small child, doing the same stupid thing over and over again. 

Children are a wonderful picture of this to me. Often when I am telling them to do something that they don't enjoy, but that I know is good for them or will make them stronger, I think about God's ways being not my ways and his thoughts higher than my thoughts. It is a good reminder to trust him.