God

“For 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 My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

To give these verses some perspective, the distance from one side of the universe to the other is an incredible 93 billion light-years. Using this as our measure, God likens the distance between our thoughts and his thoughts to the distance from one side of the universe to the other.

To put that immense number another way, 93 billion light-years is 544 septillion miles (544 followed by 20 zeros). Even if we tried to travel from one side of the universe to the other at the speed of light (5.88 trillion miles a year), it would take an infinite amount of time. That's because the universe will continue to expand whilst you are travelling, even at the speed of light. So, the edge of the universe will remain forever sealed off from you — even travelling at the speed of light.

That means that your best thought on your best day is ninety-three billion light-years short of how great God really is.

Possible Preaching Angles: Greatness of God; Omniscience of God; Trusting God – The immense wisdom, insight, and love of God should calm our fears. You may not understand your current crisis and worry about the outcome, but God is in control, His love for you is everlasting, His plan for you will happen, and you can rest secure that your Father is watching over you.

Christianity is not [currently] declining in America. At the New York Times, journalist Lauren Jackson has been doing some searching, thorough reporting for a new series “Believing.” Apparently, 92 percent of Americans say “they hold a spiritual belief in a god, human souls or spirits, an afterlife, or something ‘beyond the natural world.’”

Jackson reasons that people haven’t found a satisfying alternative to religion. She reports that for the last few decades, much of the world has tried to go without God, a departure from most of recorded history. More than a billion people globally and about a third of Americans have tried to live without religion. Studies in recent years have offered insights into how that is going. The data doesn’t look good.

Actively religious people tend to report they are happier than people who don’t practice religion. Religious Americans are healthier, too. They are significantly less likely to be depressed or to die by suicide, alcoholism, cancer, cardiovascular illness, or other causes. In a long-term study, doctors at Harvard found that women who attended religious services once a week were 33 percent less likely to die prematurely than women who never attended. One researcher on the study said, that because “they had higher levels of social support, better health behaviors, and greater optimism about the future.”

Religiously affiliated Americans are more likely to feel gratitude (by 23 percentage points), spiritual peace (by 27 points), and “a deep sense of connection with humanity” (by 15 points) regularly than people without a religious affiliation.

Religion can’t just become another way to optimize your life. Some have tried. Jackson describes secular community gatherings with pop music, morality talks, free food — but “None of us became regulars.” Going for any reason other than faith itself leaves you with little reason to stick around.

Sheldon Yellen manages a $1.5 billion company that operates in 31 countries and employs 7,000 people … all without a smartphone. The CEO of Belfor, a privately held property restoration company, only uses a flip phone. Belfor said, "You can't show and feel emotion, compassion, passion, or intent through a smartphone, through text."

Having a flip phone encourages phone conversations, the CEO said, which he strongly prefers to texting. "If someone has something to say to me, they know they can pick up the phone. I'll answer their question," he said. "I am approachable, and I can't convey that through a text."

Yellen said. "A young kid was trying to get a meeting with me and sell me a product. Finally after three months, he got his appointment. He's sitting across from me, and three times during the first 10 minutes this kid looks down at his smartphone and starts texting." Yellen told the young man: "I'm not trying to be rude or arrogant, but I think you're going to have to go. I'm not asking you to get down and bow, but you just spent so [much] of my time texting someone when you're sitting with me. You gotta go, and one day you're going to thank me."

Smartphones are not allowed at Belfor company meetings. There is an unspoken rule that no one brings in their phone. "My thinking is: Let's have our meeting; let's get on with it," Yellen said. "In a lot of situations, we have a basket in the room or outside the room for cellphones." Yellen added, "I want people to talk to me. I want them to hear my passion."

Possible Preaching Angles: 1) Prayer; Communication; Fatherhood of God; We have direct access to the Sovereign Lord of the universe and we can express our deepest need, our love, and thanksgiving at any time. He always gives us his full attention. 2) Pastor; Pastor's role; This is an excellent reminder for pastors to "live in the moment" and be approachable by their flock.

Author Michael Reeves, author of the book Delighting in the Trinity, expresses our basic problem with the Trinity—that the Trinity is "seen not as a solution and a delight, but as an oddity and a problem." Reeves explains:

In fact, some of the ways people talk about the Trinity only seem to reinforce the idea. Think, for example, of all those desperate-sounding illustration. "The Trinity," some helpful soul explains "is a bit like an egg, where there is the shell, the yolk, and the white, and yet it is all one egg!" "No" says another, "the Trinity is more like a shamrock leaf: that's one leaf, but it's got three bits sticking out. Just like the Father, Son, and Spirit." And one wonders why the world laughs. For whether the Trinity is compared to shrubbery, streaky bacon, the three states of H2O, or a three-headed giant, it begins to sound, well, bizarre, like some pointless and unsightly growth on our understanding of God, one that could surely be lopped off with no consequence other than a universal sigh of relief.

The following Buddhist poem, in the form of a "waka," was written in the 12th century by Saigyo Hoshi after he visited a Shinto Grand Temple:

Gods here?
Who can know?
Not I.
Yet I sigh
and tears flow
tear on tear.

Editor's Note: Note the author's honest longing for true knowledge of God. He yearns to experience God and God's presence but he can't know for sure. According to the New Testament, God has revealed himself in the presence and person of Jesus Christ. In Christ, we can know that God is with us.

In his book It Happens After Prayer, Pastor H. B. Charles Jr. provides the following helpful illustration of why God often makes us wait for the answer to our prayers.

One hot afternoon, a certain woman walked to her neighbor's produce stand to buy grapes. The line was long. And each person seemed to get special attention. But she waited patiently. When she finally made it to the front of the line, the owner asked for her order. She asked for grapes. "Please excuse me for a minute," was the answer. Then the owner walked away and disappeared behind a building. For some reason, this rubbed the woman the wrong way. Everyone in line before her was greeted warmly. They were given special attention. And, most importantly, they were served immediately. But she was forced to wait. And when she got to the front of the line, she was forced to wait some more. She was offended. She felt the owner took her regular business for granted. The longer she waited, the angrier she became.

Finally, the produce stand owner reappeared. And with a big smile, he presented her with the most beautiful grapes she had ever seen. He invited her to taste them. She had never tasted grapes so good. As she turned to leave with her delicious grapes, he stopped her. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry I kept you waiting," said the farmer. "But I needed the time to get you my very best."

How long have you been in line waiting on God to get to your request? How long have you been waiting in line for God to meet a need, solve a problem, or open a door? Whatever you do, don't get out of line. And don't stop praying. Wait on God.