Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
1) What is the context of this passage?
2) Who is doing the speaking in this passage?
3) What do we learn about who we are and who God is in this passage?
Isaiah 55:8-9
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 are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Original Intent
1) What is the context of this passage?
The context of this passage is about hope after exile. Chapter 55 gives a bird’s eye view of the Lord’s compassion and mercy on an unfaithful nation. These verses are a reminder that God’s ways are not human’s ways. His perspective on all of life from before time began continuing on into eternity allows Him the broad, all-knowing scope to know exactly what is best at all times in all situations.
2) Who is doing the speaking in this passage?
Isaiah is the writer of this book (Isaiah 1:1 and Isaiah 6). In this particular passage the Lord is speaking and Isaiah is recording. The message is intended for the nation of Judah, God’s chosen people. He longs for them to return to a relationship of flourishing intimacy with Him, but they continue to choose their own ways instead of His. They choose what they think will make them most satisfied, but ironically, leaves them empty and eventually destroyed.
3) What do we learn about who we are and who God is in this passage?
From this passage, we learn that God is omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing); character traits reserved for deity alone. On the flip side, we see humanity. We are finite in our knowledge and our ways and are in no way comparable to the Lord and His ways. As Isaiah points out, our ways are as separate and far away from God as Heaven is from Earth.
Everyday Application
1) What is the context of this passage?
Provision, hope, and restoration are just a few themes that are prevalent in this passage. As we read it, there is assurance that we gain from knowing and seeking after the one true God. We do have a future that rest in Him. He does have a plan, and He simply invites us to incline our ear and come to Him that He alone might satisfy our deepest desires. (Isaiah 55:3)
2) Who is doing the speaking in this passage?
We know that God’s word is consistent and true. He inspired writers to pen His truth consistently across thousands of years. As we see Isaiah’s words on the page, we have to be reminded of the God behind them. Isaiah proclaimed God’s truth in a time of reckless sin, and while he spoke judgment on the nation of Judah, he also offered hope, even in their sin. This passage tells us God has plan even when we mess things up, go our own way, or turn our backs on Him. He has a plan. Scripture is God’s love story unfolding and His plan for how He redeemed in the past, how He is redeeming now, and how He will redeem once and for all of eternity.
3) What do we learn about who we are and who God is in this passage?
Never is there a moment God wants us to forget that He is control. His ways are higher and His thoughts more extravagant and purposeful, never reckless or random. Even on our best days, we will fall short of God’s holy standard of righteousness, which is why God has provided us a way to be right with Him through His Son. Despite our short comings, despite our failures, despite our lack of understanding (meaning that we truly don’t know best!), God does! He has a plan and a future…in every season…in His own time. (Jeremiah 29:11, Ecclesiastes 3:11)
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
Memorize It!
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