Higher Than Our Ways
Isaiah 55:8
NLT“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Calvin, in his Isaiah commentary of the 1550s, noted the verse 'is expounded in various ways'. He rejected the reading that it condemns all human life, and tied it to God's readiness to pardon.
John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, on 55:8 (trans. William Pringle, Calvin Translation Society, vol. 4, 1853)
Isaiah 55:8: the Lord says his thoughts and ways are not those of the people he calls to return.
More context
Isaiah 55:8 comes in the prophet's closing invitation. Verse 7 calls the wicked to forsake their way and return to the Lord, 'for he will abundantly pardon'. Verse 8 gives the reason: God's thoughts and ways are not human ones. Verse 9 sets them as far above as the heavens are above the earth. Rashi, following the Midrash Tanhuma, and Calvin both read the contrast as one of mercy: God pardons the penitent where human courts and offended people do not.
Light
Promotes humility and helps individuals accept circumstances they cannot understand.
Shadow
Can be used dismissively to shut down valid theological questioning or the search for understanding.