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Monday Miscellany; October 29,2007;

Focus Text: Isaiah 55.8-9

It was just a routine doctor’s visit that took me into the crowded metropolitan area. I turned into the parking lot reserved for all the patients who had a doctor in the multistory office building in which my doctor also had an office. As fortune would have it, the parking lot was jam-packed. I drove up one row and down the next looking diligently for a place to park my car, but without success for quite a while. Finally after minutes of searching and with patience getting thin, I spotted a spot and wheeled my car in to make my scheduled appointment.

After signing in and waiting a few minutes, I was called back to an examining room to wait for my doctor to come in and see me. As I passed the time, I walked over to the window of the seventh story office and looked out. To my surprise the window out of which I was looking was directly above the parking lot where I had left my car. To amuse myself, I tried to see if I could spot my car from this high vantage point. After a few seconds of searching, sure enough, there it was right in the spot that had been so hard for me to find earlier.

As I was looking out the window, I noticed other cars pull into the busy parking lot only to repeat the same process that had captured my attention fifteen minutes earlier, i.e. finding an open space in which to park. From my vantage point, I could see every empty space in the lot (and there were several available). From each driver’s vantage point, he/she could not see a single space. As I had done, they blindly pulled down one lane after another searching for their spot. I found myself wanting to help them! “Over there,” I thought; “Keep going just one more aisle; No! No! Don’t turn there; its two aisles over!” Of that which they could not see, I had perfect knowledge, yet my knowledge did them no good. “If they could only hear me,” I thought, “They would have absolutely no problems in solving the common problem which they all have!”

As I stood there high above each driver, it struck me that this must be somewhat like God feels when we blindly search for answers to life’s difficult questions. He has a prefect vantage point from which to see the best solutions; our vision is hampered by lack of knowledge, experience, patience, humility, trust, and a thousand other human frailties. As we blindly search for answers, I wondered if He sometimes thinks as I did, “Over there! “Keep going just one more aisle; No! No! Don’t turn there; its two aisles over!” I wondered if God ever thinks, “Why doesn’t he listen to me; I told him in My word how to solve that problem, yea even prevent that problem?”

One primary difference in the analogy of the parking lot is this; I had no means to communicate with the drivers below, but in real life, God has a wonderful means to communicate with us, namely, the Holy Bible. In order for us to have the advantage of a heavenly vantage, however, we must read, understand, and apply its truths to our lives. What a shame it would be to miss out on life’s greatest blessings merely because we fail to hear the directions that only God can give!

“‘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).

Questions:

1. What is the purpose of the Bible? Why did God write and preserve it for us?

2. What excuses do we sometimes offer for failing to read, understand and apply the Bible to our lives? Why is it that we so often get in trouble before we turn to God for direction?

3. Does the Bible deal directly with all of life’s problems (THINK)? Is there any problem of eternal significance with which the Bible does not deal?

4. Why are His ways above our ways and His thoughts above our thoughts?

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