God is MORE than pink or blue…

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. The heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it...” (Isaiah 55:8-11)

One of the best marriage books I have read is called “Love and Respect” by Emmerson Eggerichs. He is able to talk about some pretty deep and difficult things with light hearted humor but is able to send his point home. One of the more impactful things he says is when he describes the difference between how men and women communicate and hear. He says women have “PINK” sunglasses and hearing aids and men have “BLUE”. As an example; He says typically, when a women says she has nothing to wear, she means she has nothing “new” to wear. When a man says he has nothing to wear, he means he has nothing “clean” to wear! In my 30+ years of marriage you would have thought I would have clued into this at some point but Noooo! I had to read it in a book before the “light” went on. Only then did I start to piece things together :P

I had an epiphany one day when I realized that, I “SAY” I know men and women are different, but when it comes down to it, I keep EXPECTING Tom to think, act and behave like me, and then I get upset, surprised or confused when he doesn’t. Bottom line is, I keep thinking he understands me and I understand him but, I don’t REALLY understand his language and he doesn’t really understand mine, If we truly want to have a healthy marriage, we have to learn each other’s languages… which, of course takes time and effort and is NOT easy!! What is so hard about it is that we use the same words and it SOUNDS like we are saying the same things… but, we are not… It would be a whole lot easier if I heard French and he heard Spanish then we could hear the difference, then can work with that! :)

So, to take this a step further. One day as I was pondering this pink and blue language barrier thing, the thought came to me that the same thing happens with God too!! How many times in my life have I heard Him say something and the end result looked completely different than what I had imaged… and then I end up getting surprised, upset and/or confused? Can you relate?  Isaiah 55:8 says it really clearly “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. The heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So here it is again, I READ and KNOW that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than MY ways and thoughts but I keep EXPECTING Him to DO things MY way! God’s language is not pink or blue but, I think it is more ETERNAL or WHITE. While I do believe he applies things in a “temporal” sense, His perspective is much more ETERNAL than temporal. We are so temporally focused and entrenched, we hear things through that filter and apply His words that way too. I think Job got this message at the end of his ordeal when he said “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted… Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know… My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:1-5) He got it!! After all that he went through, which I am sure was not on his agenda, he got the “eternal” perspective and understood God in a new and wonderful way.

Could this be a part of the “transforming process” that Paul talks about in Romans? “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2) I believe that, if we let Him, we are being shifted from “temporal” thinking to His “eternal” perspective. The more we see through eternal eyes and hear through eternal ears, the more we will understand God’s language and the less we will be surprised.

We can also call this a language of TRUST. Because His ways are so much higher and greater, there is NO WAY we can really comprehend all that He is doing or saying, and we need to just TRUST Him with whatever it is. In Hebrews 11 the writer goes through a lengthy list of people who were known to have lived by faith; Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Rahab… and at the end of this chapter of faith he says a very startling thing “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.” (Hebrews 11:39). What!! God promised them something, but they never received it!!? So, were they wrong in trusting and believing in Him?? No, they weren’t wrong. They knew God well enough to TRUST Him no matter what things looked like. “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

I love this part of the Isaiah scripture “…so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it...” (Isaiah 55:8-11). God doesn’t make empty promises. EVERYTHING He says will come to pass in His perfect way and timing. If it doesn’t go “my” way, will I trust that God is God and I am not!? I always have a choice in how I see things. I can go to my default “pink” or I can go the extra steps and trust Him and allow Him to teach me his “eternal” language.

Father, I thought I was done with school but apparently I am not! If I want a healthy relationship with You I need to learn Your language and allow You to transform my heart and mind to think and see Your eternal perspective. Help me Lord to trust You… “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

I got it, I got it, I got it…. I ain’t got it!

There are times in my life when I think, “I GOT this!” God says something to me in such a way that things just seem so CLEAR and I wonder how I missed it before! Then, things don’t go quite the way I thought they would and I wonder… what the heck happened? I ain’t got this after all… or I lost it or something?? Did I really “have it” to begin with?

The disciples lived, ate, slept and traveled with Jesus for three years and THEY didn't get it. “IT” being what Jesus came for. They had in their mind what their “Messiah” would do and how he would do it.  They were looking for Jesus to be a warrior king, like David. Someone who would rally the troops, gather the people together and come against the Romans and lead them in a rebellion! Then, they imagined, Jesus would sit on the “earthly” throne and rule them like all the other kings Israel has had before. Right? And of course, when all this took place, they themselves would have positions of honor! Oh yeah! (Matthew 20:20, Luke 9:46-47 and Luke 22:24)

Poor Peter was so ready to fight for this ideal that he kept tripping over himself and making a fool of himself when Jesus would do something completely different than what he expected. He was so amped up in the garden he even cut off someone’s ear trying to protect, defend and fight for Jesus’ reign.

This is a great scripture to show how the disciples didn't really get who he was! “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" (Mark 4:38-41) They were astonished at what Jesus did and asked “who is this!?” They had the creator of the universe in the boat with them and they didn't even know it!

Are we in that same boat?

Oswald Chambers’ September 5 devotional has some powerful words on this subject:

“…Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38) “…Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself through a particular "Gethsemane" experience of our own. But we refuse to go, saying, "No, Lord, I can't see the meaning of this, and besides, it's very painful." And how can we possibly watch with someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don't even know why He is suffering? We don't know how to watch with Him --- we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.

The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they "all . . . forsook Him and fled" (Matthew 26:56)…”

Are we in that same garden?

John the Baptist was an amazing man. He prepared the way for Jesus, telling everyone to “get ready” for the one who is to come… “Repent and be baptized!!” He seemed so unwavering and confident in Jesus through it all until he was imprisoned. After a few days in that prison cell, he sent someone to ask "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Matthew 11:3) I can picture him in his cell thinking, “If Jesus Is who I think He is, why the heck isn’t he getting me out of here!!” I know I would!

Are we in that same cell?

You would think that his family would have some clue as to who he was but not even his

brothers understood. You would think that Mary would have said something to help them out!!  At one point they kind of mocked him saying “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. For even his own brothers did not believe in him". (John 7:3-5) They didn't really believe he was the Son of God, they thought he wanted to become a “public figure” and be a world famous miracle worker!

Are we that same family member?

The Pharisees, Priests, & Teachers of the Law all studied the Scriptures diligently (John 5:39-40) so that they would know the Messiah when he came, yet they could not recognize Jesus as the One when he was right in front of them demonstrating God’s power. They also were expecting the Messiah to come as a conquering King, to restore Israel’s glory. When he didn’t meet their expectations, they got so mad at him, they had him killed (which of course was God’s plan all along).

Are we that religious person?

Are we open to hearing ANYTHING from God? Are we willing to accept ANYTHING that He is doing in our lives regardless of how it looks to us, or others? Will we be obedient to ANY command He gives us even if it doesn't fit our doctrines or beliefs? Or better yet, will we be ok with Him NOT doing something we believed He would do, even if we have all the right scriptures to back it up? Will we allow Him to be God in our life or will we tell Him that He MUST do things our way? We get locked into a certain pattern of expectations of what, how, and when God is supposed to do things and get angry and disillusioned when He doesn’t meet them. I think most, if not all the time, I ain’t got it!

In all the situations listed above, the common denominator seems to be the desire to control their circumstances… Being a “control freak” I can relate to this!! This makes me think of one of Tom’s funny analogies. He says we try to put a steering wheel on a roller-coaster, frantically gripping the wheel, turning it back and forth, and hoping to gain control of the car even though it is on rails. LOL! That pretty much describes what we do, doesn't it?! Our lives are in the best hands ever, even better than “roller coaster rails”, but we still feel the need and try to control the ride. We can do that, or we could trust God, (who makes NO mistakes and has taken everything into consideration) and just throw our arms in the air and enjoy the ride, hooting and hollering as loud as we can, with joy :)

Are we on that ride?

Lord, my heart truly desires to throw my hands up in the air, trusting You and Your control of my life, no matter what it looks like. Please give me the courage to let go of the wheel, and enjoy the ride! With all my love, Linda :)