I was hosing off the deck this morning when I saw a penny.  I picked it up and smiled as the old phrase “a penny for your thoughts” flitted through my mind.

And then, prompted by the Spirit, I asked, “A penny for your thoughts, Lord?”

Instantly I was reminded of the scripture in Isaiah 55:8-9 which says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

My thoughts have been relatively stress-filled lately.  Mulling things over, plotting solutions, insomnia … this is how I’ve been spending my days and nights.  I’ve got some “stuff” going on and I need the Lord to help me fix it.  My guess is that you can relate.  But His thoughts are NOT my thoughts.  Which means he is not mulling things over or plotting solutions or dealing with insomnia.  His thoughts and ways are HIGHER, which means they are superior, greater, loftier, and better.

I’ve been spending some time in 2 Kings lately and it struck me how the stories about Elisha are largely unconventional and unorthodox.  Throwing salt into the spring to heal the water and the land?  Putting flour in a pot of poisonous stew? Telling Naaman to dip in the Jordan River seven times to cure his leprosy?  This stuff would be absolutely preposterous if it hadn’t been of God.  But it was.  And that changes the story entirely.

So I’ve been repenting of my own all-too-human thoughts today.  I’ve spent way too much time giving God practical suggestions for how He could intervene in my life.  “And just in case you are running short on ideas, Lord, here are a few easy ways you could fix this problem!”

He doesn’t need easy.  Nothing is impossible for Him.  He doesn’t need suggestions.  He is omnipotent.  He doesn’t need me to stay up all night.  He never sleeps, so I can.

So today I’m choosing to be grateful that His thoughts are no reflection of mine.  I can pray.  I can agree with His word.  But at the end of the day, when my head hits the pillow, my thoughts are stilled as His take over.