I am a problem solver. When I see situations that require a solution, I immediately set my brain into action to produce a solution. There is a very good side to that, but it sure can affect my prayer life. When solutions are needed, I will go to God with the problem … AND THE SOLUTION!

There are many concerns on my mind these days – my family, our country, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rise of evil. I was recently praying for my family which was heavy on my heart that day. I prayed and presented God with some really good ideas about how to change the situation and the time limit in which it needed to be done. Okay, God, here are multiple choices. Just sign off on one of them, okay?

Having walked with the Lord for fifty-five years, I know not to tell God how to do it. It is something that I still must guard against doing.

God has given us a reminder in His Word that neither His thoughts nor His ways are like ours. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9

• For My thoughts are not your thoughts: God does not think the way we do.
• Nor are your ways My ways: God does not act the way we do. He does things His way, and His ways are often not our ways.
• For as the heavens are higher than the earth: How far is the distance between God’s thoughts and ours? How far is the distance between His ways and ours? The distance is as great as the heavens are higher than the earth.

One of the greatest demonstrations of Isaiah 55:8-9 is found in Joshua chapter six, which we know as the walls of Jericho falling. Joshua and the Israelites had a major problem. There was an enormous wall impeding their journey to the promised land. What were they going to do?

There were tens of thousands of Israelites present, so I wonder how many ideas there were to get around or over those walls? Yet, not one of them produced the idea to march around the walls once each day for six days and seven times on the seventh day. And not one of them said and while we are at it, let’s not say a word. No one added, and at the conclusion of the seventh march on the seventh day, shout loudly, and the walls will crumble.

No one came up with that plan. But God did. They walked in obedience with God’s plan, the walls fell flat, and victory belonged to God’s people.

God was certainly capable of waving His hand over Jericho and collapsing the wall. I would have told God to do it that way. This miracle was beyond normal expectation; no other city had been conquered this way. Israel could not depend on their prior experiences. All they had was God’s promise that the city would be theirs, and that promise was enough. God’s thoughts and ways were higher than any thoughts the Israelites managed to think.

The victory of God’s people never hinged on their ability or any of their well-thought-out plans. It was solely dependent on their unwavering obedience to their mighty God. They could have stopped after day two or day five or at any point. Instead, they chose to trust God when His ways and thoughts were higher than theirs.

What situations are you facing that seem insurmountable? I have some that are way beyond my problem-solving skills. I know that God can instantly change things, but if He chooses to do it in a way beyond my wildest thoughts, so be it. He is God, and He is good.

Let us not stop short of our victory with God. As we surrender to His plan, we set aside our earth-bound thoughts and allow His higher thoughts to direct our paths. He is working even when we do not see Him working. He is present in our situations. His plan is still good, and He can still be trusted.

As God writes the story of our lives, it is not just an ordinary story. He is writing the masterpiece of all masterpieces. We might not see it clearly now, but we can trust Him because His thoughts are not like our thoughts and His ways are not like our ways. They are higher. They are better. Infinitely so.

I plan to trust God’s higher ways. How about you?