God Moves In Mysterious Ways Series

INTRODUCTION

Over the past few weeks we’ve been studying popular sayings people think are in the Bible–but they aren’t. We’ve already discussed several pseudo-scriptures including, “God helps those who help themselves” and “God won’t put more on you than you can bear.” Today, we are focusing on the saying, “God moves in mysterious ways”–No, that’s NOT in the Bible.

These words come from a hymn written by William Cowper in 1774. The first stanza says: “God moves in mysterious ways/ His wonders to perform. / He plants his footsteps in the sea / And rides upon the storm.” We’ll learn more about Mr. Cowper later.

This statement may be uttered as an expression of praise after God has done something so miraculous it cannot be explained in human terms. Or it may be shared as a hollow explanation when troubling circumstances come into our lives–and God is blamed. Someone may use this statement as an excuse for not seeking to know or understand God–after all, He’s so mysterious, He can’t be known. Is that the truth? For the answer, let’s look at Isaiah 55:6-9:

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

With this passage as our launching pad, let’s explore the lofty heights of three important facets of who God is and how He relates to us:

1. GOD IS MYSTERIOUS, BUT YOU CAN KNOW HIM!

In the movie “Rudy,” the undersized Notre Dame football player endures some tough times because his dream to play for Notre Dame is not being fulfilled. He goes to see a wise Catholic priest named Father Cavanaugh. In one of the best lines ever to come out of Hollywood, Father Cavanaugh says, “Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: there is a God and I’m not Him.” I would add to that a third incontrovertible fact: There is a God, you’re not Him, but you can know Him personally!

Isaiah 55 teaches us about the majesty and mystery of God. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. But the very fact we that we can even talk about God is amazing. In his book Miracles, C. S. Lewis compares our human talk about God to shellfish talking to each other about humans. If a mystical shellfish catches a glimpse of what a human is like, he will attempt to share his vision with his fellow clams. He begins by telling them how unlike themselves humans are. Humans have no shells, like clams; they aren’t attached to rocks; and they do not live surrounded by water. Those three dynamics, shells, rocks, and water are important to clams, so the clam begins to have a negative image of a human. Lewis writes, “Uncorrected by any positive insight, they build up a picture of Man as a sort of amorphous jelly (no shell) existing nowhere in particular (no rocks); and never eating (because there’s no water to bring nutrients to him). So the shellfish would conclude that man is a ‘famished jelly existing in a dimension less void.’”

Lewis says in the same way our human limitations prevent us from thinking and talking correctly about God. That’s why God reveals Himself to us in the Bible. And the Bible says while God is majestic and mysterious, we can seek Him and know Him. Isaiah 55 instructs us on when to seek God and how to seek Him. We are to seek Him while He may be found, to call on Him while He is near. This implies there will be a time when He may not be found, and when He will not be near. God is not playing some kind of cosmic Hide ‘N Seek. He wants to have a love relationship with you.

Right now, He can be found. But if you wait until after you die to seek God, He won’t be found. That’s why you must seek Him and get to know Him on a personal level today. After you die, you will not have a second chance to seek and find God.

The secret of how we can know God is found in Isaiah 55:7. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church is said to have preached on this verse over 200 times. Anyone can seek God, but in order to find Him, a person must be willing to turn from their sins and to turn to the Lord.