And My Thoughts Higher than your Thoughts

      For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:8-11

     Have you got stinkin thinkin? If you think you've got things figured out better than God you certainly do. Oh! Wait, Wait! No, No, No, I'd never do that you say. But your actions, your behavior, your voting history, your character as judged by your friends and acquaintances say more about where you and God disagree than does your personal opinion of yourself. Have you ever said or thought, 'this just isn't fair'? Only God Himself has His Finger on what is really fair and just. We can't see the whole picture, only God can.
     As I write this essay this morning it is July 4th. People are thinking about Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, and shooting off fireworks to startle old Vietnam Veterans like me at the most unexpected times. Hot Dogs and Flags are OK I guess, but Americans need to be thinking about Higher things, about How George Washington knelt and fervently Prayed for God's Providential Aid in our quest for Freedom. How 81 year old Ben Franklin stopped the confused hubbub of the First Continental Congress and led a fervent Prayer for God's Wisdom to complete our Constitution. About how bravely men with frozen, bloody, cracked feet fervently stood their ground against better equipped and paid military forces in 1775. And about how our brave Military has unselfishly preformed in every War since. Some like my fellow 1965 Paragould Graduate Tim Clark gave it all, some like Greene County Tech Graduate Robert Moore who fought in Tim's same Company gave their legs up, for in Robert's case, 49 years since in a wheelchair. What are you thinking about today?
     I have spent almost 3 years in a wheelchair myself. I have certainly asked why more than a few times. Severe Diabetic Neuropathy they say? Or was it the Agent Orange of Vietnam? Truth be told perhaps God put me down so I could look up? If that is the case, He certainly knew what He was doing. I have written more, thought more, studied the Bible more, and I hope Listened more. Losing your legs makes your ears grow.
     I have spent a lot of my life focused on big ears. Seems my Father's grade school friends made fun of his big ears. It troubled my dad greatly, but he used his great sense of humor to remedy the situation. With the aid of a little bubble gum for glue, he fastened strings run secretly through his belt loops and shirt, to his ears. When the children began to stare and laugh, he carefully manipulated the strings to make his ears flap. They got in trouble for disrupting class and Dad got the last laugh. Later on he even figured out how to wiggle his ears with his own facial musculature and could still do so in his 80's.
     But making you ears grow is important in other ways. We have to train ourselves to listen to God. His "still small voice" is extremely difficult to hear; one misses hearing it more often than not. It isn't always what we want to hear, it's easier to ignore than heed. Word from God is easier to not mention, it's easier to go the other direction, easier to cross the street and circle around it somehow than it is to confront and acknowledge it. God has wisdom waiting, but we have to train ourselves to listen.
     Eyes are important too. God is doing all sorts of things around us daily, even hourly; if you are truly waiting and watching it happens second by second. But, are we looking? Are we really watching? Are we watching through the eyes of the Bible, and what we know is everlasting truth about God, or are we allowing the Media Pundits to mold our opinion of what we see on the TV?
     But God? A good God? If God was Good He wouldn't let children starve in Bangladesh? Would He? He wouldn't let 50,000,000 unborn be butchered in Planned Parenthood chop shops? There is an answer: No! He doesn't approve of it, but He does allow it to happen. Actually he allows us, you and I, to allow Satan and his underworld forces to promote and execute Evil. God says in the Bible that He created Evil. Why? So we could see better. Think! If we had never seen the evil of War, how would we know the value of Peace? If we had never known suffering, how would we value calm and success?  If we don't understand the depth of Hate, how can we understand the heights of Love? One has to look on both sides of a coin to understand its value. God has given us eyes and let us taste from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have to taste carefully, and make good choices, or get chased out of the garden into the briars.
     There is also a higher level of understanding. It comes not by sight or sound but through the enlightenment of The Holy Spirit, and the Gift of Spiritual Discernment. You have to look and listen on a Spiritual Level. You have to Pray and sometimes Fast, and ask God very Personally to show you the answer. It isn't easy, it comes with a price of trust and Faith. It sometimes, yea offtimes, leads you into areas you didn't think you wanted to go. People will be telling you to go the other way. You have to keep your spiritual eyes and ears focused on what God is telling you and off the TV and the newspaper. You have to turn your big ears away from the gossip where they naturally reach out. Itchy ears are always searching for false teaching. Scratch your ears. Stick gum in them if someone besides God is whispering in them. But open them wide for God's tiny whisper.