For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
God's thoughts and ways are not like human thoughts and ways, but are as far above them as the heavens are above the earth. The declaration stands between the call to seek the Lord while He may be found by forsaking wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts to receive mercy and abundant pardon, and the promise that His word will not fail but will accomplish His pleasure and prosper. His readiness to pardon exceeds all human expectation, for He does not deal with sinners as people deal with one another but holds on with longsuffering and tender pity where people would let go and be consumed. He does not see and judge as people see, looking not on outward appearance, reputation or human computation but on the heart, its motives and inward principles. His plans and leadings are therefore beyond human wisdom to know, often appearing mysterious and opposite to human expectations, so finite beings must submit their desires and fixed ideas, seek His counsel in His word and in prayer, and trust His guidance rather than their own.
Words and Immediate Context
The declaration is that the Lord's thoughts are not human thoughts and the Lord's ways are not human ways, but are higher than them as the heavens are higher than the earth. They surpass human understanding and judgment and are unlike human thoughts and ways, so human reasoning must give way and human purposes cannot measure divine purposes. In deciding how to act, people must turn from their own reasoning and attend to divine direction rather than judging by finite standards.
In its setting this contrast stands between the call to seek the Lord while He may be found, to forsake wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts, and to return for mercy and abundant pardon, and the assurance that His word will accomplish what He pleases and prosper. For that very reason He will have mercy and abundantly pardon the wicked and unrighteous when they forsake their own way and thoughts and return to Him, since His gracious purposes exceed human expectation. The verse is therefore a call to be converted, to let the word work in life, and to find in serving Christ eternal truth. It means ceasing to measure manhood and success by worldly customs, criterion and approval, ceasing to strive to please worldlings and to follow hereditary and cultivated tendencies, denying self and building on Christ as solid rock, and then becoming physicians of souls as well as bodies.
Like rain and snow coming down to water the earth to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, His word sent out to do His pleasure does not fail or return void but accomplishes its work and prospers where He sends it. It brings going out with joy and leading forth with peace, with mountains and hills breaking into singing and trees clapping their hands. It brings lasting renewal in which thorn becomes fir-tree and brier becomes myrtle-tree as an everlasting sign to His name that shall not be cut off. That change is fulfilled in transformation of character by casting out evil passions and developing the sweet graces of the Spirit, in overcoming inherited weakness unto new birth, and in a saving work that leads to glory. The same higher purpose was served when John, separated on the rocky barren coast of Patmos and instructed by God and Christ and the heavenly host, wrote the visions of the closing history so that every nation, kindred, tongue and people would learn the sure divine purpose and the word would go forth as a burning lamp when his voice could no longer witness.
The passage belongs to instruction to be diligently studied, including Isaiah 55-58 and Isaiah 50-58, declaring God's covenant with the people He seeks to save, the terms of salvation, and the education of most value. That education is the highest knowledge, knowledge after the divine similitude, understanding the laws of His kingdom and how to live as a citizen of heaven, with the mind habituated to dwell on the teaching of the great I AM and to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. The study is to arouse pastors and people from spiritual stupidity, especially believers in the cities, to wake up, arise and shine, and give to others what the Lord has given them, going with full assurance that angels will impress minds. It warns those in high positions with great responsibilities whose ways are not accepted, who have disregarded reproofs, chosen only what words to accept without thorough work, had great light without following on to know the Lord, and neglected to warn the people what is truth, calling them to cease complaining and evil working, put away evil works, draw nigh, repent and be converted, so that conviction, conversion and reformation will go through the congregation and Isaiah 60-61 will then be understood.
Mercy Beyond Human Expectation
God's thoughts and ways are far above human thoughts and ways, as the heavens are above the earth, and for that reason He will have mercy and will abundantly pardon the wicked and unrighteous when they forsake their own way and thoughts and return to Him. The call is to seek Him while He may be found and to be converted, for His gracious purposes exceed human expectation and His word will accomplish what He intends and prosper in joy and peace. When sins look too great to be forgiven, He still invites return during precious probationary time, receiving and reviving the broken and contrite and humble heart. Even those who have been sinners and transgressors all their lives and have robbed Him of the service due Him are still offered full pardon if they forsake wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts and return to live.
The Lord does not deal with sinners as people deal with one another, or all would have been consumed. When offended, people let the offender go, but Christ holds on. He is longsuffering, of tender pity, merciful and gracious, forgiving transgressions and sins, with yearning tenderness, entreaty and love and a limit of forbearance far beyond that of humanity. He bears long with perverse, disobedient, stubborn and rebellious people, suffering them to live even while they abuse His mercies, drawing them by love and not wanting unwilling service, though continued disobedience will ultimately bring punishment.
Pardon is offered now in probationary time to all who seek with the whole heart and call upon Him while He is near. The wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return, with sins repented of and confessed, with contrition and decided obedience, and then He faithfully forgives and cleanses from all unrighteousness. To believe that He has abandoned the sinner or will not pardon is false and dishonors Him, for His word promises mercy and will accomplish what He intends. His plan is to receive sinners just as they are and to draw near to those who draw near to Him, humbling the soul, changing human purposes, and putting Christ's purity and meekness and lowliness into the work instead of independence in walking in one's own way and following one's own counsel. Ministers high and low and all are called to humble themselves under His mighty hand so He will lift them up, to give up desire for praise of men, to look to Jesus, to take hold of His strength by living faith, and to make peace with God.
His forgiveness is more than judicial release from condemnation; it also reclaims from sin and transforms the heart. His word sent out to do His pleasure does not fail but works like rain and snow watering the earth to bring forth seed and bread, bringing joy and peace and turning thorn into fir-tree and brier into myrtle-tree as an everlasting sign. That change is fulfilled in transformation of character by casting out evil passions and developing the sweet graces of the Holy Spirit, in healing and washing and cleansing. Those who labor for others are encouraged and strengthened in faith by being allowed to see this grace change hearts and lives, and the pardoned one is made a polished instrument to pity and save others as incorrigible as himself.
Where mortal man judges by outward shallow appearances and counts the most hopeless, entrapped cases beyond rescue, God reads the heart as an open book, never misjudges, and always judges righteously. He knows the atmosphere surrounding every soul and how many and fierce are the struggles to overcome natural hereditary tendencies and sins made common by habit. His higher way is therefore yearning tenderness toward those whose true condition is not evident from appearances, claiming the sinner as His own by purchase of blood and forbearing to cut him down after long ungrateful behavior in hope of bringing him through co-laborers to repentance.
Redemption Through Christ
Even the most honored servant does not attain full understanding of the great plan of redemption or perfect appreciation of the purpose in the work given for his own time. Each is used as an instrument to accomplish purposes of grace and mercy in the great movements for carrying forward salvation, and each is given a measure of light adapted to the necessities of his time. Those so guided by the Holy Spirit do not fully understand what is to be accomplished by the work entrusted to them nor comprehend in all its bearings the message uttered in His name, because God directs them beyond their own comprehension. The fuller significance may become clear to later generations as the people need that instruction.
Christ in human form as the express image of the Father's character embodies this higher character as Restorer to restore the moral image in people. He came to represent God and worked out His purpose according to His own standard and the laws of a kingdom not of this world, not bound by what any other householder does and not aiming to follow any human standard, example, or opinion. The gospel of the kingdom is not confined by precise regulations, but deals with men to cultivate their moral and spiritual capabilities. What looks unequal and unfair to observers is right and just.
In the vineyard parable this higher way means reward is not measured by amount of labor done, visible results, or human ideas of earning. Those hired first received what they agreed to work for, while those hired last left payment with Him in faith that He would do what is right and just. He gives according to the generosity of His purpose and according to the spirit brought into the work, so that those who trust His justice and equity receive by grace rather than by merit.
When sin separated the human family from God, Satan and the whole heavenly universe expected abandonment and a forever severed connection with the sinful race, yet God did not let go His hold upon man formed in His image because He had purposes of mercy. When there was no eye to pity and no arm to save, His own eye pitied and His own arm brought salvation at infinite cost to secure probation and lay help on One mighty, saying, Save them from destruction. The Son joyfully accepted, pledged Himself to take man's nature and stand at the head of the human race, and was given as Mediator, substitute, surety, and ransom to satisfy every claim of the law and make atonement and give another trial under obedience and faith. He became man's substitute not to save him in his sin but from his sin, to call him from continual transgression to obedience, taking upon His divine soul all the depths of sin as one bound in slavery, with nothing less than His own life atoning for man's life. His death means life to all who believe and death to all who will not be obedient, and destruction to the apostate, so that the purpose in creating man might not be defeated, and through this gift man is given every opportunity of knowing God and the laws of His government and of being restored by being placed on vantage ground as a personal Saviour is believed.
John's separation on the rocky, barren coast of Patmos became the means for this higher purpose. Instructed by God and Christ and the heavenly host, he wrote out the visions and revelations of things to take place in the closing period of this earth's history, and when his voice could no longer witness those messages were to go forth as a lamp that burneth. Through them every nation, kindred, tongue, and people would learn the sure purpose of the Lord, not concerning the Jewish nation merely but every nation upon the earth. As rain and snow come down to water the earth and make it bring forth and bud to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so the word going forth from His mouth does not return void but accomplishes what He pleases and prospers where He sends it, leading out with joy and peace, making mountains and hills break into singing and trees clap their hands, and replacing thorn with fir tree and brier with myrtle tree as an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Human reasoning cannot explain the wondrous works or supply knowledge of what has not been revealed, such as precisely how creation was carried out. Faith is to rest on the revealed word rather than on human suppositions and scientific supposition about secret matters, while what is revealed may be investigated and what remains secret belongs to Him. The preserved remains of creatures buried in the Flood and God's providence therein were appointed to confirm the inspired history, yet people can misuse such evidence and turn a benefit into a curse.
Divine Wisdom and Guidance
God's plans, purposes and means of leading lie beyond human understanding and cannot be rightly known by human wisdom alone, so human counsel must never be taken in place of His counsel. Without divine enlightenment people either deny Him or shrink His power down to their own limited conceptions, reason from policy principles and judge from a human standpoint, and educate others to rely on men, look to men, trust in men and accept human dictation of what to do and not do. That is making flesh the arm and giving to humanity the glory that belongs to God, while the eye is to be single to His glory in lifting up Jesus and praising His excellency. Jesus is a safe Counsellor who never makes a mistake, so one on whom God lays a burden should take it up trusting Christ's leading rather than human reasoning, keeping the case before God and not leaning to his own understanding, giving up self-confidence and his own counsels to return to the Lord and accept His way. Unless there is decided reformation in learning this lesson, He will turn His face away.
His dealings with His people often look mysterious because His way of working is many times so opposite to human plans and expectations that people are amazed and confounded. He moves in a mysterious way to perform His wonders, with His own appointed channels of light that are not necessarily the minds of any particular set of men. People do not understand their own perverse natures, and often while gratifying self and following their own inclinations they flatter themselves that they are carrying out His mind, mistaking self-gratification and personal inclination for His will. Therefore the mind is to be kept stayed upon the Lord and fed on His Word which is spiritual life, the Scriptures searched and wisdom sought in much prayer according to His promise, with unbelief and distrust that grieve the Holy Spirit put away. To insist that the work must be done and the blessing must come in a certain way, and to refuse to recognize what comes in any other way, rejects His methods because they do not coincide with human ideas and stands directly in the way of His work.
In difficulty when the way forward is hidden and resources seem insufficient, His people should trust His guidance and wait patiently rather than lose faith or demand to see how He will provide. When obstacles hide how a good work can continue, they should do what they can and patiently trust Him to act in ways they cannot accomplish or foresee. He has all wisdom and all knowledge and leads and guides by ways of His own choosing into paths where great blessings await, even when to short-sighted human sight there seems only loss and disaster. Especially in time of peril near an important crisis when greater light is to be revealed, this means feeling need of wisdom and humbly asking for divine guidance instead of trusting settled ideas and prejudice, and not arraying oneself against the men He may make messengers to give light and truth. Christ cares for His church with intense interest and tender sympathy and enters into the depth of human need, yet He sees the result of every action; many blessings are lost by failing to bring needs, cares and sorrows to Him and by following supposedly wise plans of one's own making. All plans are to be laid at the feet of the Redeemer, trusted patiently in His wisdom, continued in importunate prayer without ceasing, and waited for when the answer tarries, knowing He will grant the request when it is for His name's glory, for He has a heaven full of blessings prepared for those who practice His teachings.
He alone rules and shapes circumstances through many influences beyond human power to control, and knows the end from the beginning. Finite beings must therefore be humble and submissive in desires, stop clinging to their own plans, impressions and fixed ideas of what they must have and do to be happy, and accept happiness in His appointed way. This means taking self in hand, bringing self under control of intelligent reason, doing duty faithfully, practicing forgetfulness of self and being a blessing to others, and in that faithful obedient work peace and rest and happiness will come. He may allow grief without willingly afflicting, acting in love, and when He does not grant a request it is because He knows it would not be best; calm is found in surrendering the will to His, including in choice of a life companion and in affliction and distress when family need and limited time keep desired plans from being carried out.
What feels like hard dealing is mercy and compassion rightly understood. Moses appeared fully suited to deliver Israel and assumed God would use him to free the people through force, but God had not chosen warfare and Moses was not yet ready. God used forty years of humble work in Midian to teach obedience, self-control, faithfulness and care, preparing him for his mission, so what seemed lost time to human judgment was part of wise purpose. Likewise a traveler worn from the journey to Michigan was upheld by God on the journey and returned better than when he left, when remaining at home would have let health sink beneath sickness into greater feebleness; the Lord raised up help so there could be change of mental labor and speaking of truth, calling for faith and looking up rather than judging by appearances and looking on the dark side.
He did not intend people to live idly, for Adam was given useful pleasurable work in Eden and while humanity obeyed the garden supplied needs. After disobedience labor became toil and hardship, yet He uses it to restrain evil, make temptation less effective, and aid recovery from the fall, its discipline checking self-indulgence and fostering industry, purity, firmness, happiness and development. His order does not regard manual labor as degrading, as human opinion wrongly does; a gentleman is one who can work cheerfully, and useful labor is beneath no one, while idle pursuits that do not educate or help others divert talents from good. His purposes and aims stand higher than selfish worldly interests as the heavens are higher than the earth, and He does not repress youthful activity and aspiration nor bid youth be less aspiring. The irrepressible desire for some greater good, indomitable will, strenuous application and untiring perseverance that make a man truly successful and honored are not to be discouraged but by grace directed to higher Christlike objects of unselfish service.
In stewardship of means His thoughts and ways are likewise not human thoughts and ways, for He knows just how much means will be wanted, when and where, but men do not know. Those who have means are stewards of God and not stewards of men, and must look to God and not to brethren or messengers for light and teaching on when to sell and how much, and when to give and how much, leaving themselves free for Him to teach, direct and guide by operations of His Spirit upon the heart. Pressuring brethren to be in haste to dispose of means is the work of the enemy to keep means from the true object, and messengers who take that direction upon themselves do so without authority. When His work becomes more extensive and publications, tracts and papers must come out more frequently, means wasted and carelessly disposed of will be needed and the lack will be felt. He could rain down money from heaven, but His plan is for everything to be arranged on earth to move like clockwork in His cause, and when this order is thrown out the cause suffers; trusting His counsel therefore includes using resources in ways that serve His work as His word is sent forth and its proclamation supported.
Judgment Unlike Human Judgment
God does not judge by finite human standards or reckon by human computation, for His thoughts and ways are as high above human thoughts and ways as the heavens are above the earth. He does not see as man sees, but looks on the heart, on inward principles and motives rather than outward fairness, reputation, or show. Men judge by outward appearance and take the world's standard as their pattern, while He scrutinizes motives and reveals men as they really are, so that they will not stand the test of judgment unless transformed.
Because He is Creator and men are creatures formed by His hand, what looks great or small to men is not great or small to Him. In measuring sin He does not call all sins equal, for there are degrees of guilt, yet no sin is small in His sight. Pride, selfishness, and covetousness, which men dismiss as small, are crimes He counts great and especially offensive, and sin must be measured by His standard in His word rather than by human opinion, with forsaking of man's own ways and thoughts and return to Him for abundant mercy and pardon.
Men may flatter themselves that they are about right and good, overlooking their defects, and may think themselves rich in God's favor while enjoying the blessings of the gospel. In truth they may be spiritually poor, blind, naked, and miserable, and the light of truth exposes that condition, shows their danger, and reveals their need of Christ as Saviour. This applies to many who profess to keep God's commandments, to the Laodicean church, and to the church at Battle Creek. Self-complacency and excuses cannot hide corruption from Him, for nothing can be hidden from God though true character be concealed from brethren, and those favored with clear light who turn from the holy commandment will be judged by the light and privileges granted them and not by human ideas of fairness. Prayer and going without food gain nothing unless the plainly stated sacred duty of relieving the needy is resolutely taken hold of, and mind and body must be subdued by grace, sanctified to Him, and made unselfish like Christ in doing good to others.
He does not judge and handle His accepted workers as men would when they are in danger or growing crooked. He does not condemn them or deal roughly with them, but warns them, points out where and how to improve, and corrects them carefully and tenderly as a gardener tends a promising delicate plant without pulling it up by the roots. He even joins together workers of varying disposition and temperament to be a help and blessing to each other, where a Pharisaical outlook would sneer and condemn, and human thinking must be elevated, cleansed, purified, and sanctified before it is in harmony with His thinking.
His thoughts about men and His ways of valuing them are immeasurably higher than human thoughts and ways. He respects the faithful aged standard-bearers who sacrificed to build His work, while human judgment lightly esteems them and exalts self, seeks high wages without sacrifice, and acts with hardness, self-esteem, and arbitrary authority. To despise those whom He respects shows He is not abiding in the heart, so those who enter into labors made ready to their hands must show great respect, courtesy, and liberality to the veterans of the cause and must not be hard, exacting, and unsympathetic toward them.
Because men do not see themselves as He sees them, they may fail to recognize their need for repentance, humility, and continual dependence on Him. They may trust their own judgment and justify themselves even when their errors are pointed out, and may try to earn His love or overcome by personal effort. The remedy is full surrender until the will yields to His will, and then Christ's burden becomes light.
Call to Seek and Return
The verse is a call to be converted, to seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, to forsake wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts and return to Him for mercy and abundant pardon. It means to stop measuring manhood and success by the world's customs, criterion and approval, to stop striving to please worldlings, to stop following hereditary and cultivated tendencies and one's own inclinations, to deny self and build on Jesus Christ as the solid rock, and to devote oneself to God's work, for His offer of immortal life surpasses the recognition sought in this life. Those in responsible positions must therefore not consider themselves above fellow workers because their duties or responsibility are greater, but must forsake self-importance, self-exaltation, self-righteousness, harsh words, arbitrary authority, domineering and oppression, and must seek power and wisdom from God alone to represent truth in righteousness with the tenderness of Christ. When people are in earnest He will be found of them, and when humble enough to receive wisdom He will teach them His way, and then His word going forth will not fail but will accomplish its work like rain and snow watering the earth to bring forth seed and bread, making them physicians of souls as well as bodies.
Mind, heart and character must be submitted to the control of His Spirit in order to recognize His higher wisdom and to use influence to help rather than hinder, instead of judging fellow workers and insisting that everything be done in one's own way. Ministers high and low and all are to humble themselves under His mighty hand so He will lift them up, to draw near to Him so He will draw near to them, to give up desire for the praise of men, to look to Jesus, to take hold of His strength by living faith, and to make peace with Him. His design for His work reaches a high elevation that human wisdom and human control cannot reach, and for man to control the work and have his own way keeps it from rising and from making the most advancement to what He intends. He has at times permitted men to have their own way, but the result is sadness to their own souls and to the souls of those they control, and His name is not honored as it should be.
In His work His instruction points out the right way, His voice is to be heard and His wisdom is to guide, for He has outlined His plan in His word and in the testimonies sent to His people, and only work carried on in accordance with the principles of His word will stand fast forever. Human wisdom and devising must not break up His work, finite judgment must not be exalted in opposition to His plans and purposes, and man's authority bearing the signature of man in weak, mixed-up sentiments must not take generalship over His people, for His authority bears evidence of its divine origin and must stand supreme in moral dignity and power. Plans not born of heaven are evil and must be corrected and undone even at the cost of heavy burden, care, anxiety, mental anguish and wearing labor, so that His work advances along right lines and all stand and work together with Him on the sure foundation on which truth has always been based. Both leaders and people are to cooperate with Him and follow His direction rather than their own plans, lest yielding to devising and temptation they lose sight of the higher aim and lose powers of discernment.
Insisting on one's own way and thoughts is contrary to His way and thoughts, and those who persist in that choice will be among those who receive the seven last plagues, while surrendering the heart brings a new heart and a new song. This calls those who have left first love and are devoting talents to tearing down what He desires to build up, including opposition to the work centering in Nashville and at Graysville, and those who have practiced oppression and injustice while professing truth, to discern their spiritual condition, seek Him while He may be found, forsake way and thoughts, and return for mercy and abundant pardon. The same difference condemns inordinate love of gain, anxious care to acquire means, increasing passion for money that overbalances love of truth and corrupts the soul and holds affections on earthly treasure, even when a person flatters himself that he is about right, for He does not see as man sees but looks at the heart. It also condemns self-love, self-righteousness and self-complacency, joining with others to exchange ideas that strengthen doubts, framing plans that lead in the wrong direction and doubtful plans, mixing selfishness into experience, holding self-esteem and thinking one knows more than one does, making commercial expansion an ambition and cherishing worldly ambition and love of gain, thereby injuring one's own soul and usefulness and the souls of others and walking in darkness in ways that are not His ways. He communicates Himself to the soul and substitutes His own noble, broad, far-reaching, heavenly ideas and thoughts for poor, earthly, contracted human ideas and plans, so that all powers of the soul are exercised to exalt Jesus and abase self. People who follow impulses of stubborn, rebellious hearts set up their own will and choose their own way and so have no inclination to do His will, and this disobedience and failure to practice His teachings sets human thoughts and ways against His and explains why there are so many voices and so much variance among His people, for selfishness and an ungenerous spirit cloud spiritual discernment until the mind is renewed to self-denying love that judges matters as He would.
Service and Transformed Character
God's thoughts and ways stand far higher than human thoughts and ways, and His purposes may run beyond what people can grasp or expect, yet He strengthens the faith of those who labor for others by letting them witness His grace changing the hearts and lives of the people they serve. That visible change from evil passions to godly character fulfills the promise that thorn gives way to fir-tree and brier to myrtle-tree, and it works as surely as rain and snow watering the earth to bring forth seed and bread, for His word sent out to do His pleasure does not fail. In that transformation evil passions are cast out and the sweet graces of the Holy Spirit are developed, bringing joy and peace as an everlasting sign to His name.
His word reliably accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it, bringing life and spiritual nourishment in the call to turn to Him for mercy and abundant pardon, and His saving work leads His people out with joy and peace to an everlasting sign of His glory. Human judgments and counsel cannot set limits on what He can do or on the work He calls people to do, so reliance on methods like phrenology to judge character and prescribe a person's course leads away from His counsel. Inherited weaknesses can instead be overcome through faith and imputed righteousness unto new birth and a changed life, by which He restores His moral image in people and equips them for their work.
His servants must humble themselves before Him and learn in Christ's school, disciplining and often crucifying inherited tendencies and wrong habits. His principles are higher than human wisdom and reach into eternity, so they must be learned and applied to daily life until every act, word and thought accords with them. The work of carrying the last message of mercy can be done with freshness and power only through the Holy Spirit.
He does not see as blind, selfish mortals wish or suppose, for He looks on the heart rather than outward appearance, reputation or show, and He knows whether selfishness, pride, partiality in business and neglect of justice toward the needy dwell there. Prayer and going without food gain nothing unless the plainly stated sacred duty of relieving the needy is resolutely taken hold of. Outward correctness before others is not enough; mind and body must be transformed, subdued by grace, sanctified to Him and made unselfish like Christ in doing good to others, while human ability is recognized as coming from God the divine Teacher so that praise and honor for what people accomplish belong to God rather than to people, since praising people puts them where God should be and weakens moral power.
Isaiah 55-58 is to be diligently studied to arouse pastors and people from spiritual stupidity, and those in the cities who believe present truth are to wake up and give to others what He has given them. Those who have not yet come up to His help are to arise and shine because their light is come, and as they give to others the precious light of the gospel message they will see His glory, going forth with full assurance that angels will make impressions upon the minds of those for whom they labor. His favor must be sought in His own way, for those who sense they lack it yet hold to their own ceremonies and demand special recognition enter into controversy with Him instead of coming to Him on His terms.
God's thoughts and ways are not like human thoughts and ways, but are as far above them as the heavens are above the earth. The declaration stands between the call to seek the Lord while He may be found by forsaking wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts to receive mercy and abundant pardon, and the promise that His word will not fail but will accomplish His pleasure and prosper. His readiness to pardon exceeds all human expectation, for He does not deal with sinners as people deal with one another but holds on with longsuffering and tender pity where people would let go and be consumed. He does not see and judge as people see, looking not on outward appearance, reputation or human computation but on the heart, its motives and inward principles. His plans and leadings are therefore beyond human wisdom to know, often appearing mysterious and opposite to human expectations, so finite beings must submit their desires and fixed ideas, seek His counsel in His word and in prayer, and trust His guidance rather than their own.
Words and Immediate Context
The declaration is that the Lord's thoughts are not human thoughts and the Lord's ways are not human ways, but are higher than them as the heavens are higher than the earth. They surpass human understanding and judgment and are unlike human thoughts and ways, so human reasoning must give way and human purposes cannot measure divine purposes. In deciding how to act, people must turn from their own reasoning and attend to divine direction rather than judging by finite standards.
In its setting this contrast stands between the call to seek the Lord while He may be found, to forsake wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts, and to return for mercy and abundant pardon, and the assurance that His word will accomplish what He pleases and prosper. For that very reason He will have mercy and abundantly pardon the wicked and unrighteous when they forsake their own way and thoughts and return to Him, since His gracious purposes exceed human expectation. The verse is therefore a call to be converted, to let the word work in life, and to find in serving Christ eternal truth. It means ceasing to measure manhood and success by worldly customs, criterion and approval, ceasing to strive to please worldlings and to follow hereditary and cultivated tendencies, denying self and building on Christ as solid rock, and then becoming physicians of souls as well as bodies.
Like rain and snow coming down to water the earth to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, His word sent out to do His pleasure does not fail or return void but accomplishes its work and prospers where He sends it. It brings going out with joy and leading forth with peace, with mountains and hills breaking into singing and trees clapping their hands. It brings lasting renewal in which thorn becomes fir-tree and brier becomes myrtle-tree as an everlasting sign to His name that shall not be cut off. That change is fulfilled in transformation of character by casting out evil passions and developing the sweet graces of the Spirit, in overcoming inherited weakness unto new birth, and in a saving work that leads to glory. The same higher purpose was served when John, separated on the rocky barren coast of Patmos and instructed by God and Christ and the heavenly host, wrote the visions of the closing history so that every nation, kindred, tongue and people would learn the sure divine purpose and the word would go forth as a burning lamp when his voice could no longer witness.
The passage belongs to instruction to be diligently studied, including Isaiah 55-58 and Isaiah 50-58, declaring God's covenant with the people He seeks to save, the terms of salvation, and the education of most value. That education is the highest knowledge, knowledge after the divine similitude, understanding the laws of His kingdom and how to live as a citizen of heaven, with the mind habituated to dwell on the teaching of the great I AM and to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. The study is to arouse pastors and people from spiritual stupidity, especially believers in the cities, to wake up, arise and shine, and give to others what the Lord has given them, going with full assurance that angels will impress minds. It warns those in high positions with great responsibilities whose ways are not accepted, who have disregarded reproofs, chosen only what words to accept without thorough work, had great light without following on to know the Lord, and neglected to warn the people what is truth, calling them to cease complaining and evil working, put away evil works, draw nigh, repent and be converted, so that conviction, conversion and reformation will go through the congregation and Isaiah 60-61 will then be understood.
Mercy Beyond Human Expectation
God's thoughts and ways are far above human thoughts and ways, as the heavens are above the earth, and for that reason He will have mercy and will abundantly pardon the wicked and unrighteous when they forsake their own way and thoughts and return to Him. The call is to seek Him while He may be found and to be converted, for His gracious purposes exceed human expectation and His word will accomplish what He intends and prosper in joy and peace. When sins look too great to be forgiven, He still invites return during precious probationary time, receiving and reviving the broken and contrite and humble heart. Even those who have been sinners and transgressors all their lives and have robbed Him of the service due Him are still offered full pardon if they forsake wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts and return to live.
The Lord does not deal with sinners as people deal with one another, or all would have been consumed. When offended, people let the offender go, but Christ holds on. He is longsuffering, of tender pity, merciful and gracious, forgiving transgressions and sins, with yearning tenderness, entreaty and love and a limit of forbearance far beyond that of humanity. He bears long with perverse, disobedient, stubborn and rebellious people, suffering them to live even while they abuse His mercies, drawing them by love and not wanting unwilling service, though continued disobedience will ultimately bring punishment.
Pardon is offered now in probationary time to all who seek with the whole heart and call upon Him while He is near. The wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return, with sins repented of and confessed, with contrition and decided obedience, and then He faithfully forgives and cleanses from all unrighteousness. To believe that He has abandoned the sinner or will not pardon is false and dishonors Him, for His word promises mercy and will accomplish what He intends. His plan is to receive sinners just as they are and to draw near to those who draw near to Him, humbling the soul, changing human purposes, and putting Christ's purity and meekness and lowliness into the work instead of independence in walking in one's own way and following one's own counsel. Ministers high and low and all are called to humble themselves under His mighty hand so He will lift them up, to give up desire for praise of men, to look to Jesus, to take hold of His strength by living faith, and to make peace with God.
His forgiveness is more than judicial release from condemnation; it also reclaims from sin and transforms the heart. His word sent out to do His pleasure does not fail but works like rain and snow watering the earth to bring forth seed and bread, bringing joy and peace and turning thorn into fir-tree and brier into myrtle-tree as an everlasting sign. That change is fulfilled in transformation of character by casting out evil passions and developing the sweet graces of the Holy Spirit, in healing and washing and cleansing. Those who labor for others are encouraged and strengthened in faith by being allowed to see this grace change hearts and lives, and the pardoned one is made a polished instrument to pity and save others as incorrigible as himself.
Where mortal man judges by outward shallow appearances and counts the most hopeless, entrapped cases beyond rescue, God reads the heart as an open book, never misjudges, and always judges righteously. He knows the atmosphere surrounding every soul and how many and fierce are the struggles to overcome natural hereditary tendencies and sins made common by habit. His higher way is therefore yearning tenderness toward those whose true condition is not evident from appearances, claiming the sinner as His own by purchase of blood and forbearing to cut him down after long ungrateful behavior in hope of bringing him through co-laborers to repentance.
Redemption Through Christ
Even the most honored servant does not attain full understanding of the great plan of redemption or perfect appreciation of the purpose in the work given for his own time. Each is used as an instrument to accomplish purposes of grace and mercy in the great movements for carrying forward salvation, and each is given a measure of light adapted to the necessities of his time. Those so guided by the Holy Spirit do not fully understand what is to be accomplished by the work entrusted to them nor comprehend in all its bearings the message uttered in His name, because God directs them beyond their own comprehension. The fuller significance may become clear to later generations as the people need that instruction.
Christ in human form as the express image of the Father's character embodies this higher character as Restorer to restore the moral image in people. He came to represent God and worked out His purpose according to His own standard and the laws of a kingdom not of this world, not bound by what any other householder does and not aiming to follow any human standard, example, or opinion. The gospel of the kingdom is not confined by precise regulations, but deals with men to cultivate their moral and spiritual capabilities. What looks unequal and unfair to observers is right and just.
In the vineyard parable this higher way means reward is not measured by amount of labor done, visible results, or human ideas of earning. Those hired first received what they agreed to work for, while those hired last left payment with Him in faith that He would do what is right and just. He gives according to the generosity of His purpose and according to the spirit brought into the work, so that those who trust His justice and equity receive by grace rather than by merit.
When sin separated the human family from God, Satan and the whole heavenly universe expected abandonment and a forever severed connection with the sinful race, yet God did not let go His hold upon man formed in His image because He had purposes of mercy. When there was no eye to pity and no arm to save, His own eye pitied and His own arm brought salvation at infinite cost to secure probation and lay help on One mighty, saying, Save them from destruction. The Son joyfully accepted, pledged Himself to take man's nature and stand at the head of the human race, and was given as Mediator, substitute, surety, and ransom to satisfy every claim of the law and make atonement and give another trial under obedience and faith. He became man's substitute not to save him in his sin but from his sin, to call him from continual transgression to obedience, taking upon His divine soul all the depths of sin as one bound in slavery, with nothing less than His own life atoning for man's life. His death means life to all who believe and death to all who will not be obedient, and destruction to the apostate, so that the purpose in creating man might not be defeated, and through this gift man is given every opportunity of knowing God and the laws of His government and of being restored by being placed on vantage ground as a personal Saviour is believed.
John's separation on the rocky, barren coast of Patmos became the means for this higher purpose. Instructed by God and Christ and the heavenly host, he wrote out the visions and revelations of things to take place in the closing period of this earth's history, and when his voice could no longer witness those messages were to go forth as a lamp that burneth. Through them every nation, kindred, tongue, and people would learn the sure purpose of the Lord, not concerning the Jewish nation merely but every nation upon the earth. As rain and snow come down to water the earth and make it bring forth and bud to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so the word going forth from His mouth does not return void but accomplishes what He pleases and prospers where He sends it, leading out with joy and peace, making mountains and hills break into singing and trees clap their hands, and replacing thorn with fir tree and brier with myrtle tree as an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Human reasoning cannot explain the wondrous works or supply knowledge of what has not been revealed, such as precisely how creation was carried out. Faith is to rest on the revealed word rather than on human suppositions and scientific supposition about secret matters, while what is revealed may be investigated and what remains secret belongs to Him. The preserved remains of creatures buried in the Flood and God's providence therein were appointed to confirm the inspired history, yet people can misuse such evidence and turn a benefit into a curse.
Divine Wisdom and Guidance
God's plans, purposes and means of leading lie beyond human understanding and cannot be rightly known by human wisdom alone, so human counsel must never be taken in place of His counsel. Without divine enlightenment people either deny Him or shrink His power down to their own limited conceptions, reason from policy principles and judge from a human standpoint, and educate others to rely on men, look to men, trust in men and accept human dictation of what to do and not do. That is making flesh the arm and giving to humanity the glory that belongs to God, while the eye is to be single to His glory in lifting up Jesus and praising His excellency. Jesus is a safe Counsellor who never makes a mistake, so one on whom God lays a burden should take it up trusting Christ's leading rather than human reasoning, keeping the case before God and not leaning to his own understanding, giving up self-confidence and his own counsels to return to the Lord and accept His way. Unless there is decided reformation in learning this lesson, He will turn His face away.
His dealings with His people often look mysterious because His way of working is many times so opposite to human plans and expectations that people are amazed and confounded. He moves in a mysterious way to perform His wonders, with His own appointed channels of light that are not necessarily the minds of any particular set of men. People do not understand their own perverse natures, and often while gratifying self and following their own inclinations they flatter themselves that they are carrying out His mind, mistaking self-gratification and personal inclination for His will. Therefore the mind is to be kept stayed upon the Lord and fed on His Word which is spiritual life, the Scriptures searched and wisdom sought in much prayer according to His promise, with unbelief and distrust that grieve the Holy Spirit put away. To insist that the work must be done and the blessing must come in a certain way, and to refuse to recognize what comes in any other way, rejects His methods because they do not coincide with human ideas and stands directly in the way of His work.
In difficulty when the way forward is hidden and resources seem insufficient, His people should trust His guidance and wait patiently rather than lose faith or demand to see how He will provide. When obstacles hide how a good work can continue, they should do what they can and patiently trust Him to act in ways they cannot accomplish or foresee. He has all wisdom and all knowledge and leads and guides by ways of His own choosing into paths where great blessings await, even when to short-sighted human sight there seems only loss and disaster. Especially in time of peril near an important crisis when greater light is to be revealed, this means feeling need of wisdom and humbly asking for divine guidance instead of trusting settled ideas and prejudice, and not arraying oneself against the men He may make messengers to give light and truth. Christ cares for His church with intense interest and tender sympathy and enters into the depth of human need, yet He sees the result of every action; many blessings are lost by failing to bring needs, cares and sorrows to Him and by following supposedly wise plans of one's own making. All plans are to be laid at the feet of the Redeemer, trusted patiently in His wisdom, continued in importunate prayer without ceasing, and waited for when the answer tarries, knowing He will grant the request when it is for His name's glory, for He has a heaven full of blessings prepared for those who practice His teachings.
He alone rules and shapes circumstances through many influences beyond human power to control, and knows the end from the beginning. Finite beings must therefore be humble and submissive in desires, stop clinging to their own plans, impressions and fixed ideas of what they must have and do to be happy, and accept happiness in His appointed way. This means taking self in hand, bringing self under control of intelligent reason, doing duty faithfully, practicing forgetfulness of self and being a blessing to others, and in that faithful obedient work peace and rest and happiness will come. He may allow grief without willingly afflicting, acting in love, and when He does not grant a request it is because He knows it would not be best; calm is found in surrendering the will to His, including in choice of a life companion and in affliction and distress when family need and limited time keep desired plans from being carried out.
What feels like hard dealing is mercy and compassion rightly understood. Moses appeared fully suited to deliver Israel and assumed God would use him to free the people through force, but God had not chosen warfare and Moses was not yet ready. God used forty years of humble work in Midian to teach obedience, self-control, faithfulness and care, preparing him for his mission, so what seemed lost time to human judgment was part of wise purpose. Likewise a traveler worn from the journey to Michigan was upheld by God on the journey and returned better than when he left, when remaining at home would have let health sink beneath sickness into greater feebleness; the Lord raised up help so there could be change of mental labor and speaking of truth, calling for faith and looking up rather than judging by appearances and looking on the dark side.
He did not intend people to live idly, for Adam was given useful pleasurable work in Eden and while humanity obeyed the garden supplied needs. After disobedience labor became toil and hardship, yet He uses it to restrain evil, make temptation less effective, and aid recovery from the fall, its discipline checking self-indulgence and fostering industry, purity, firmness, happiness and development. His order does not regard manual labor as degrading, as human opinion wrongly does; a gentleman is one who can work cheerfully, and useful labor is beneath no one, while idle pursuits that do not educate or help others divert talents from good. His purposes and aims stand higher than selfish worldly interests as the heavens are higher than the earth, and He does not repress youthful activity and aspiration nor bid youth be less aspiring. The irrepressible desire for some greater good, indomitable will, strenuous application and untiring perseverance that make a man truly successful and honored are not to be discouraged but by grace directed to higher Christlike objects of unselfish service.
In stewardship of means His thoughts and ways are likewise not human thoughts and ways, for He knows just how much means will be wanted, when and where, but men do not know. Those who have means are stewards of God and not stewards of men, and must look to God and not to brethren or messengers for light and teaching on when to sell and how much, and when to give and how much, leaving themselves free for Him to teach, direct and guide by operations of His Spirit upon the heart. Pressuring brethren to be in haste to dispose of means is the work of the enemy to keep means from the true object, and messengers who take that direction upon themselves do so without authority. When His work becomes more extensive and publications, tracts and papers must come out more frequently, means wasted and carelessly disposed of will be needed and the lack will be felt. He could rain down money from heaven, but His plan is for everything to be arranged on earth to move like clockwork in His cause, and when this order is thrown out the cause suffers; trusting His counsel therefore includes using resources in ways that serve His work as His word is sent forth and its proclamation supported.
Judgment Unlike Human Judgment
God does not judge by finite human standards or reckon by human computation, for His thoughts and ways are as high above human thoughts and ways as the heavens are above the earth. He does not see as man sees, but looks on the heart, on inward principles and motives rather than outward fairness, reputation, or show. Men judge by outward appearance and take the world's standard as their pattern, while He scrutinizes motives and reveals men as they really are, so that they will not stand the test of judgment unless transformed.
Because He is Creator and men are creatures formed by His hand, what looks great or small to men is not great or small to Him. In measuring sin He does not call all sins equal, for there are degrees of guilt, yet no sin is small in His sight. Pride, selfishness, and covetousness, which men dismiss as small, are crimes He counts great and especially offensive, and sin must be measured by His standard in His word rather than by human opinion, with forsaking of man's own ways and thoughts and return to Him for abundant mercy and pardon.
Men may flatter themselves that they are about right and good, overlooking their defects, and may think themselves rich in God's favor while enjoying the blessings of the gospel. In truth they may be spiritually poor, blind, naked, and miserable, and the light of truth exposes that condition, shows their danger, and reveals their need of Christ as Saviour. This applies to many who profess to keep God's commandments, to the Laodicean church, and to the church at Battle Creek. Self-complacency and excuses cannot hide corruption from Him, for nothing can be hidden from God though true character be concealed from brethren, and those favored with clear light who turn from the holy commandment will be judged by the light and privileges granted them and not by human ideas of fairness. Prayer and going without food gain nothing unless the plainly stated sacred duty of relieving the needy is resolutely taken hold of, and mind and body must be subdued by grace, sanctified to Him, and made unselfish like Christ in doing good to others.
He does not judge and handle His accepted workers as men would when they are in danger or growing crooked. He does not condemn them or deal roughly with them, but warns them, points out where and how to improve, and corrects them carefully and tenderly as a gardener tends a promising delicate plant without pulling it up by the roots. He even joins together workers of varying disposition and temperament to be a help and blessing to each other, where a Pharisaical outlook would sneer and condemn, and human thinking must be elevated, cleansed, purified, and sanctified before it is in harmony with His thinking.
His thoughts about men and His ways of valuing them are immeasurably higher than human thoughts and ways. He respects the faithful aged standard-bearers who sacrificed to build His work, while human judgment lightly esteems them and exalts self, seeks high wages without sacrifice, and acts with hardness, self-esteem, and arbitrary authority. To despise those whom He respects shows He is not abiding in the heart, so those who enter into labors made ready to their hands must show great respect, courtesy, and liberality to the veterans of the cause and must not be hard, exacting, and unsympathetic toward them.
Because men do not see themselves as He sees them, they may fail to recognize their need for repentance, humility, and continual dependence on Him. They may trust their own judgment and justify themselves even when their errors are pointed out, and may try to earn His love or overcome by personal effort. The remedy is full surrender until the will yields to His will, and then Christ's burden becomes light.
Call to Seek and Return
The verse is a call to be converted, to seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, to forsake wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts and return to Him for mercy and abundant pardon. It means to stop measuring manhood and success by the world's customs, criterion and approval, to stop striving to please worldlings, to stop following hereditary and cultivated tendencies and one's own inclinations, to deny self and build on Jesus Christ as the solid rock, and to devote oneself to God's work, for His offer of immortal life surpasses the recognition sought in this life. Those in responsible positions must therefore not consider themselves above fellow workers because their duties or responsibility are greater, but must forsake self-importance, self-exaltation, self-righteousness, harsh words, arbitrary authority, domineering and oppression, and must seek power and wisdom from God alone to represent truth in righteousness with the tenderness of Christ. When people are in earnest He will be found of them, and when humble enough to receive wisdom He will teach them His way, and then His word going forth will not fail but will accomplish its work like rain and snow watering the earth to bring forth seed and bread, making them physicians of souls as well as bodies.
Mind, heart and character must be submitted to the control of His Spirit in order to recognize His higher wisdom and to use influence to help rather than hinder, instead of judging fellow workers and insisting that everything be done in one's own way. Ministers high and low and all are to humble themselves under His mighty hand so He will lift them up, to draw near to Him so He will draw near to them, to give up desire for the praise of men, to look to Jesus, to take hold of His strength by living faith, and to make peace with Him. His design for His work reaches a high elevation that human wisdom and human control cannot reach, and for man to control the work and have his own way keeps it from rising and from making the most advancement to what He intends. He has at times permitted men to have their own way, but the result is sadness to their own souls and to the souls of those they control, and His name is not honored as it should be.
In His work His instruction points out the right way, His voice is to be heard and His wisdom is to guide, for He has outlined His plan in His word and in the testimonies sent to His people, and only work carried on in accordance with the principles of His word will stand fast forever. Human wisdom and devising must not break up His work, finite judgment must not be exalted in opposition to His plans and purposes, and man's authority bearing the signature of man in weak, mixed-up sentiments must not take generalship over His people, for His authority bears evidence of its divine origin and must stand supreme in moral dignity and power. Plans not born of heaven are evil and must be corrected and undone even at the cost of heavy burden, care, anxiety, mental anguish and wearing labor, so that His work advances along right lines and all stand and work together with Him on the sure foundation on which truth has always been based. Both leaders and people are to cooperate with Him and follow His direction rather than their own plans, lest yielding to devising and temptation they lose sight of the higher aim and lose powers of discernment.
Insisting on one's own way and thoughts is contrary to His way and thoughts, and those who persist in that choice will be among those who receive the seven last plagues, while surrendering the heart brings a new heart and a new song. This calls those who have left first love and are devoting talents to tearing down what He desires to build up, including opposition to the work centering in Nashville and at Graysville, and those who have practiced oppression and injustice while professing truth, to discern their spiritual condition, seek Him while He may be found, forsake way and thoughts, and return for mercy and abundant pardon. The same difference condemns inordinate love of gain, anxious care to acquire means, increasing passion for money that overbalances love of truth and corrupts the soul and holds affections on earthly treasure, even when a person flatters himself that he is about right, for He does not see as man sees but looks at the heart. It also condemns self-love, self-righteousness and self-complacency, joining with others to exchange ideas that strengthen doubts, framing plans that lead in the wrong direction and doubtful plans, mixing selfishness into experience, holding self-esteem and thinking one knows more than one does, making commercial expansion an ambition and cherishing worldly ambition and love of gain, thereby injuring one's own soul and usefulness and the souls of others and walking in darkness in ways that are not His ways. He communicates Himself to the soul and substitutes His own noble, broad, far-reaching, heavenly ideas and thoughts for poor, earthly, contracted human ideas and plans, so that all powers of the soul are exercised to exalt Jesus and abase self. People who follow impulses of stubborn, rebellious hearts set up their own will and choose their own way and so have no inclination to do His will, and this disobedience and failure to practice His teachings sets human thoughts and ways against His and explains why there are so many voices and so much variance among His people, for selfishness and an ungenerous spirit cloud spiritual discernment until the mind is renewed to self-denying love that judges matters as He would.
Service and Transformed Character
God's thoughts and ways stand far higher than human thoughts and ways, and His purposes may run beyond what people can grasp or expect, yet He strengthens the faith of those who labor for others by letting them witness His grace changing the hearts and lives of the people they serve. That visible change from evil passions to godly character fulfills the promise that thorn gives way to fir-tree and brier to myrtle-tree, and it works as surely as rain and snow watering the earth to bring forth seed and bread, for His word sent out to do His pleasure does not fail. In that transformation evil passions are cast out and the sweet graces of the Holy Spirit are developed, bringing joy and peace as an everlasting sign to His name.
His word reliably accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it, bringing life and spiritual nourishment in the call to turn to Him for mercy and abundant pardon, and His saving work leads His people out with joy and peace to an everlasting sign of His glory. Human judgments and counsel cannot set limits on what He can do or on the work He calls people to do, so reliance on methods like phrenology to judge character and prescribe a person's course leads away from His counsel. Inherited weaknesses can instead be overcome through faith and imputed righteousness unto new birth and a changed life, by which He restores His moral image in people and equips them for their work.
His servants must humble themselves before Him and learn in Christ's school, disciplining and often crucifying inherited tendencies and wrong habits. His principles are higher than human wisdom and reach into eternity, so they must be learned and applied to daily life until every act, word and thought accords with them. The work of carrying the last message of mercy can be done with freshness and power only through the Holy Spirit.
He does not see as blind, selfish mortals wish or suppose, for He looks on the heart rather than outward appearance, reputation or show, and He knows whether selfishness, pride, partiality in business and neglect of justice toward the needy dwell there. Prayer and going without food gain nothing unless the plainly stated sacred duty of relieving the needy is resolutely taken hold of. Outward correctness before others is not enough; mind and body must be transformed, subdued by grace, sanctified to Him and made unselfish like Christ in doing good to others, while human ability is recognized as coming from God the divine Teacher so that praise and honor for what people accomplish belong to God rather than to people, since praising people puts them where God should be and weakens moral power.
Isaiah 55-58 is to be diligently studied to arouse pastors and people from spiritual stupidity, and those in the cities who believe present truth are to wake up and give to others what He has given them. Those who have not yet come up to His help are to arise and shine because their light is come, and as they give to others the precious light of the gospel message they will see His glory, going forth with full assurance that angels will make impressions upon the minds of those for whom they labor. His favor must be sought in His own way, for those who sense they lack it yet hold to their own ceremonies and demand special recognition enter into controversy with Him instead of coming to Him on His terms.