“How Different are God’s Thoughts?”
Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-9 (55:2) – March 23, 2025
Sometimes, I get really, really busy. Involved. Even distracted. Doing a lot of things, sometimes attempting even more than I could possibly ever finish in one day. Sometimes, when I get really involved in things or activities, I don’t even think about God for whole stretches of time–for hours, sometimes even days at a time. Sometimes, I discover I don’t even look for the Lord. I don’t even concern myself with finding God. And every once in a while, I don’t even want to go looking for the Lord.
I certainly admit it. I have been less than a perfect Christian. There have been numerous times when I’ve forgotten to pray, neglected to study the Bible, sidestepped communication with God. I definitely haven’t hit a bull’s eye in my personal Christian walk 100 percent of the time. I do freely admit it. I have a sneaking feeling that I’m not alone. If we were to admit it to ourselves (and even admit it to a few other people, too!), I suspect we would find a number of honest, repentant people, confessing where they have fallen short in their Christian lives.
That’s bad news! What can we do about that??
Looking at our scripture reading for today, I can find several things that may help us out when we consider a big problem like falling short in our lives before God.
Let’s take a closer look at verses 6 and 7. “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon God while he is near;” Whoa! The Lord is closer than I thought! God’s right here, johnny-on-the-spot! I have a sneaking suspicion the Lord is right next to me, whenever I look for Him. And I have a feeling God will be right there, immediately, whenever I call.
While I was writing this sermon, I was reminded of the times I played hide-and-seek with the neighborhood kids when I was young. I bet most of you have played hide-and-seek at one time or another, too. When I was seeking the other players, I knew the object of the game. Look for the other players. I understood what I was supposed to do.
But, there’s a problem here in the scripture passage, in Isaiah 55:7. The prophet mentions the wicked, who pursue their own wicked ways. They are not following after the Lord. They are not even close to doing what the Lord wants them to do. These wicked people don’t even know what they’re missing. They don’t care about the object of the game. “Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts.” These wicked people, these unrighteous guys are even thinking bad thoughts, thoughts that are not pleasing to the Lord!
Again, that’s bad news! What can we do about that??
I’ve been talking about some pretty negative people, and some pretty negative actions, where some people actively go out of their way to be disobedient and disruptive. Some people are like that. The Bible often talks about those kinds of actions and that particular kind of people
Now, I’ll go off in a slightly different direction—still away from the Lord, but just different. Sometimes, other people get the “busy-sickness.” You know the type. Running around like chickens with their heads cut off.. In a dad-blamed hurry, frantic, running, rushing and dashing around, sometimes even without any clear direction. Sometimes their thought-life (our thought-life?) can be the same way—scattered, rushed, not able to concentrate.
What’s more, in this culture of consumer abundance, we can become preoccupied with our belongings, with our “stuff.” This sneaky kind of mind-set can sneak into our brains! What we possess and what we think we “need” can be a source of control.[1] Sometimes it can really be difficult for me – for you – for us to figure out what we truly need. Sadly, it’s often something that redirects our minds away from God, which is never good!
Again, that’s bad news! What can we do about that? What do you think the Lord might say to those people? What do think the Lord might say to us, to you and me?
I see the answer right here, in verses 7 and 8. The prophet tells us straight out. “Let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Mercy! Pardon! To me, that sounds an awful lot like GRACE. The Lord wants us to return to Him! The Lord IS gracious! The Lord WILL abundantly pardon! I don’t know about you, but I think that is exciting news.
I had a general idea of what “pardon” meant, but I wanted to find out the exact meaning. According to Webster’s dictionary, pardon means “to excuse or forgive an offense or penalty.” Wow!! That means even if I do something wrong, or think something I shouldn’t, in God’s eyes, God will abundantly pardon me–God will forgive me!! And God will abundantly forgive you, as well! That’s truly good news!
Here in Isaiah 55, as we say thank you to God for that marvelous pardon and forgiveness, we also see God providing good gifts for us. The phrase we highlight from the Lord’s Prayer is “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” With as often as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, I suspect God would be really pleased if we took this part of the prayer seriously.
We know what many of the things that please God look like. We can even make a list! As we consider God’s good gifts, and God’s kingdom, there will be food for everyone, everyone feels loved and loves others, people find ways of settling problems other than war and fighting, and when people hurt each other, people forgive each other.
We can praise God that – just as in verse 5 where God pours out on God’s people the blessings God promised to King David – the Lord will pour out those blessings on earth! Just as these blessings are true every day now in heaven, they will one day soon be true upon earth. Especially if we all work to make these blessings and love and caring for each other happen! [2]
God will be there for us when we need it! God will forgive, and have abundant grace and mercy and pardon for us, and we can count on that! We can have the assurance that as we come near to the Lord, the Lord will draw near to us! What a promise. What a God. Amen.
(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!
[1] http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/a/18-a/FR-18-a.html
[2] https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/01/year-c-third-sunday-in-lent-february-28.html
Pastor, Preacher, Pray-er 