The God of Paradox

Isaiah 55: 8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

Why do we need to defer to Christ in order to know what decision to make in life?  Because though we are created in His imagine, we sure don’t think like Him.   His thoughts are not our thoughts, indeed.  And His ways are not our ways either.  He told us, right there, in black and white (well, once printing presses were invented anyway.)

God is a God of paradox.  Have you ever thought about that?   Heck yeah He is.  I’m going to just give you a few examples of His paradoxical mind.   And the reason we need to understand that God is a God of paradox and that His thoughts are not our thoughts, is so that we give credence to the idea that we need to seek His face as we make the decisions of our lives.   It’s not like He gave us a brain and said we are on our own, just do it Nike.   He didn’t.  And He also did NOT say the He would help those who help themselves.  (My personal barf- notJesus phrase.)  He didn’t say He would help those who help themselves.  Is THAT a paradox?   Nope.  That’s man’s thought.   God wants servants, dependents, people who are going to understand that they don’t know the whole picture so they have to defer to His ways.  Bondage is freedom.  (See below.)

Ok, so I want to keep my own words in short form tonight because His words are the ones that count.   Just drink in, soak in, the paradoxes in the way our God thinks.  And position your mind to think accordingly- to be willing to ask Him when something looks good, if it actually is good;  to keep your ear to His spirit all day long so that He can lead you in decisions, big or small, at His good pleasure.   His thought are different.  And sometimes I wonder if He made us to think so “one note” in order to keep us dependent on His voice.  And why?  Because He knows being trained to listen to your parent’s voice might just save you one day.   Literally.

1.  When we die, we can produce the most.

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

2. If we want to be the first, then we’d best realize we’ll be the last.

Matthew 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

3. Two for the price of one!   Those super intelligent folks who think they know that God doesn’t exist?  Well, here’s the paradox.  It’s in the foolish things that God reveals how “dumb” the intelligent are. Now, He’s not saying that intelligence is a bad thing of course.  He gave us our intelligence, after all.  He’s saying that we can become so darn “smart” in our critical thinking that we totally miss the truth.  And of course,  the weak things will shame the strong-  that’s the second paradox in one sentence.

1 Cor 1:27  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

4. In order to gain, we must lose.

Phil 3:8  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

5. We receive more blessings if we give our blessings away.  Now that one is serious business, for sure. Just think on that for a while.

Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

6. It’s in bowing down in humility that we are lifted up.

James 4:10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

7. It’s when we are weak that we are actually strong. So next time you feel weak in any capacity, just know that you are strong because your need of God is greater.

2 Cor 12:10  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

8.    When we are set free is when we are slaves.  And I might add, the deeper into slavery we become, the greater our freedom is.  (This is such a favorite of mine!)

Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

9.  Whoever finds their life loses it and whoever is willing to lose “their” life, finds true life.

Matthew 10:39  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

10.  To lose our life is to gain.

Phil 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Can you think of more?   Just leave them in the comments below.   There are tons of them.  It’s who He is.

Takeaway:  God is a God of paradox and His thought are not our thoughts.  The realization of this fact alone will keep us with our ear to the Holy Spirit at all times and also will keep us dependent on His direction for our lives.  We need to make sure that we are not presuming that our thoughts are necessarily His.  The best way to ensure that our thoughts are in line with HIs is to spend much time communing with Him and reading His word.

Prayer:  Father, teach me about Yourself and the paradox of your thinking.   I want to know You more.  I want to live as You desire.  I want to be more like You.  Teach me, Lord, and never leave me.  Thank You for never, ever, ever, leaving me.  Help me to die to self so that I may truly live.  Help me to give, that I may receive all that You desire to give me.  Help me to lose the rights to my life so that You can bring me much more life than I could have ever created for myself.  Lord, help me to not be so intelligent that I am unwise.  Transform me in every way You desire.  I surrender to Your love.