GPS Guide – August 23, 2019

JUDGING OTHERS

Friday

Read: Isaiah 55:6-9

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(NIV Isaiah 55:6-9)

Study: People sometimes wrongly think the idea of “forgiveness” only arose in the New Testament. Today’s readings are not the only passages that show the Hebrew Scriptures also focusing on God’s forgiveness (also, for example, Jeremiah 31:33-34). Isaiah 55 told readers that God’s superbly merciful acts are very different from our usual human patterns. As we choose to respond to God’s mercy, we join in a cosmic celebration full of peace, joy and beauty. How does Isaiah’s description of the gap between God’s mercy and our usual human ways of relating speak to your heart? Sometimes when we read Isaiah’s words, or Jesus’ teaching about forgiving others, we might think, “Sounds nice—but it would never work.” Do you believe God’s ways are indeed higher than ours? Do you believe God’s way is only utterly naïve idealism, or the only real path to peace and good?

Prayer: Lord God, sometimes I think of your forgiveness abstractly, but my bad choices and actions still haunt me. Keep teaching me that you take those things as far away from me as possible when you forgive. Amen.