LEARNING THE WAYS OF GOD

Based on the message of Rev. Norman Holmes

Each person has his own identity and personality. And the more that we understand the ways of a person, the more we know how that person will think and act in different situations.

The same goes with our God and our relationship with Him. He has His own ways of thinking and acting. David prayed to the Lord in Psalm 25:4 to show him God's ways and teach him God's paths. He wanted to know God’s very heart.

If we become like King David who knew God's heart, we will begin to understand His ways more. 

Not only will we know what He does but we will also understand WHY He does certain things. We will then know how we can be co-laborers with Him.

It is written that God made known His ways to Moses and His acts to the children of Israel (Psalm 103:7). Moses knew the heart and mind of God. He knew how God would react in different situations and why. He knew how he could work in harmony with God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and bring them into the Promised Land.

The Israelites, on the other hand, saw God’s mighty acts but did not understand them. They did not know God’s ways so they just kept complaining and opposing the new things God was starting to do in their lives.

Saul of Tarshish, known as the Apostle Paul, used to think that he was a great servant of God. He thought he knew God’s ways. He thought he was serving God by attacking Christians not until he had that extraordinary encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He received a revelation that he was not serving the Lord at all. Instead, he was persecuting Him.

We do not want to be just spectators like the Israelites who only saw what God did but did not understand them. We do not want to be like Saul when he used to be an opponent of Christ. Instead, we want to see fresh light from heaven so that we can understand God's ways and be full participants in God's plans.

We can learn from Psalm 107:1-43 how God shows forth His grace, might, and power when redeeming His people. It is a collection of six stories that would help us understand the ways of God.

Each story starts with a different problem of a different type of people. Then each story tells of how all these problems led the people to be convicted and to cry out to God for help. Each story then ends by how God delivered them out of their own ways and into the greater work of His ways.

Wanderers in a Wilderness (verses 4 to 9)

Many people still wander through life today. Some who are not planted in a church look in so many wrong directions in life trying to look for a good place to thrive in. They try to find satisfaction in wrong sources so they are left feeling empty most often. This can also happen to Christians who continuously seek for satisfaction in wrong things and so they end up wandering from one church to another.

We can read in verses 4 to 9 how wanderers in the wilderness end up very weak because of hunger and thirst. They could not find any city to dwell in and so they cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord, in His goodness and mercy, delivered them out of their distress and led them to an inhabited city.

When we find ourselves wondering where to go or what to do, may we cry out to the Lord and look to Him with a new desperation. May it be a cry in our hearts to be fruitful, joyful, and be established as a part of the city of God. Psalm 92:13 tells us that those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish and be fruitful but the wanderers will remain in the wilderness.

Rebels in Chains (verses 10 to 16)

These people represent the backsliders who know God’s Word and yet rebel against Him and decide to go their own way. As a consequence, they end up in chains and become bound and enslaved to sin.

Yet, in verse 12, the Lord humbled their hearts and made them feel helpless. They cried out to the Lord for help and in His lovingkindness, He broke their chains and rescued them from prison.

When we find ourselves going the wrong way, may we immediately cry out for God's mercy. May we be quick to surrender all our wrong thoughts and emotions to Him.

Fools in Sickness (verses 17-22)

This can refer to sinners who become afflicted because of the wrong choices they made in life. People who fall into sin (like drugs, pornography, and adultery) end up messing up their own lives.

God, in His sovereignty, would allow these people to get afflicted, even to the point of death. But if they get desperate and willing to turn from their human ways to the ways of God, then God releases His hand and delivers them from destruction.

We must understand though that not everyone who is sick suffers because of his own personal sin. Job went through his sufferings not because of any sin but because God wanted to purify this righteous man further.

However, Job’s three friends did not understand God’s ways. They assumed Job was a great sinner that is why the Lord allowed him to experience such trials. We want to understand the ways of God so we can correctly understand the difficulties we and other people face.

Merchants in Storms (verses 23-32)

In this story, God allowed the storm to come to test the merchants that do business in the sea. Fear arose in their hearts as they were being tossed and whirled about. They did not know how to save themselves and so they cried out to the Lord but in His goodness and mercy, He calmed the storm and brought them out of their distress.

The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 13:45 that the kingdom of God is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. God wants us to be merchants who will be searching not for a natural treasure, but for the spiritual treasure of the kingdom of God.

He wants us to be those merchants who will be searching for people in the communities and in the nations and point them to Christ. As we serve Him through our ministries, God will let us experience storms and trials to test our faith.

May we be ready to brave the winds and the waves and may we be found pressing on and faithful until the end.

Wilderness becomes a City (verses 33-38)

This passage is about a barren wilderness that becomes a prosperous city. A fruitful congregation can become barren because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. But once the church ends their own ways and cries out to God with a new desperation, acknowledging His ways, God can make this shrinking congregation flourish and become fruitful again.

Princes Humbled, Poor Exalted (verses 39-42)

This story tells us that God can humble the princes, bringing them down through oppression, affliction, and sorrow but He is also able to exalt the poor. Our Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 19:30 that many who are first shall be last, and the last shall become first.

God allows us to experience success in life and in our ministries but many times He also leads us to humbling experiences. He lets us come to the end of our resources to remind us not to trust in our own abilities but to acknowledge that everything that we have is all because of His mercy and goodness.

Jesus declares in His beatitudes at the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). God wants us to have full dependence on Him and remain humble and meek in every trial.

In Isaiah 55:8, our Lord Jesus Christ declares, “My thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

God wants to teach us how to understand His ways and how to enter into His rest. He wants us to rely not on our own wisdom, knowledge, and strength but on His greater ways and mighty power.

May we be a people who will cry out to God to take us beyond our own thoughts and into a deeper knowledge of His ways for it is in that humble place where we will become united with His heart and be able to obey Him out of a sincere love for Him.