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. —Isaiah 55:8-9
I am not a math whiz. Of all my extended family members, I am probably the least gifted with numbers.
My brain lives in the realm of pictures and approximations. Math is too exact; too detailed.
Yet, other family members seem to be fearless of numbers. My math-major sister-in-law said once in a casual setting, “I love abstract math.”
What is that? Math with no visible symbols? Who would want to make math harder than it already is?
So, the other day, I was visiting a church, watching a group of missionaries assemble at the front.
This caused me to think of my daughter, who is working at a refugee camp far away, going beyond her comfort zone, doing brave things in a company of global strangers.
Which caused me to consider all my children and who they are becoming.
I wondered:
“Lord, how did this happen? How can it be that you take children from a humble home, raised by imperfect parents, and grow them into amazing, beautiful souls?”
It doesn’t add up.
So, I was thinking about God’s kind of math, right there in the church service.
God’s equations go beyond 1+1=2. God’s math goes beyond what seems logical or rational. God’s math even seems to work backwards sometimes.
God’s kind of math says:
- 2 small coins can sometimes mean more than a large sum of money. (Mark 12:42)
- Weak can be more powerful than strong. (Isaiah 40:29)
- A few resources in God’s hands can multiply at a miraculous rate. (John 6:13)
- Those who are last shall be first. (Matt 20:16)
- When you give to God, you get back way more than you gave. (Luke 6:38)
Things put into God’s hands seem to explode exponentially.
Finally, the omnipotent God is not only a master multiplier, he is a caring Creator. Which earthly number cruncher would not only count stars in the sky, but also lovingly name them?
He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names. Psalm 147:4
Photos:
My Word Soup 