Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of LifeSample

Even though God’s plans will sometimes surprise and confuse us, all of his ways are right and true all of the time and in every situation.

God created us as rational beings. We have been blessed with the ability to think. We never stop interpreting our lives, seeking to make sense out of what is happening to us or around us. But God never meant for our reason to be our ultimate guide. The prophet Isaiah writes:

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa. 55:8–9)

In Genesis 25–26, we are confronted with the difference between what seems right and logical to us and what is best in the eyes of God. It is logical to expect that the covenant promises, with all of their global and eternal blessings, would be passed down from Isaac to his oldest son Esau, but that is not what God had planned. For us, this is a shocking turn in the redemptive story. When we study the story carefully, it is clear that we can’t attribute the blessings going to the younger brother, Jacob, just to human manipulation. Before the boys were born, God told their mother, Rebekah, “the older shall serve the younger” (Gen. 25:23).

It is right to use your mind. It is good to think about life. It is a blessing that we have meaning-making abilities. But, as with every other ability we have been given, we must use these abilities with humble admission of our limits and a willing submission to the greater plan and purposes of God. By faith, we are all called to live as if we really do believe that God is holy in every way, all of the time, and in every circumstance. It is therefore impossible for him to do anything that is not right and good or to ask us to do anything that is not the best thing for us.

Because God’s way is not our way, there will be times when what God is doing won’t make sense to us and what he asks us to do will be different than what seems best to us. These are fault-line moments, when either we will let our logic be our guide or we will submit our reason to the infinitely holy wisdom of our Lord. In this confusing Jacob and Esau story, God is not abandoning his covenant promises or doing what is evil. No, God is doing what he knows is best to secure his blessing to that generation and all the generations of his people that will follow.

Sometimes God will surprise, confuse, or even confound us, but he will never do what is evil. He is unshakably holy and incapable of wrong. So, even when he confuses us, he is worthy of our trust. We experience ultimate safety when we surrender all of our mental capacities and gifts to his lordship. He is good and, because he is, even in our confusion we can know peace.

For further study and encouragement: Romans 8:28–30