No One Can Know Or Understand The Mind Of God
One of the biggest mistakes and most destructive habits for anyone standing for marriage restoration is ignoring God’s word and relying on our own understanding, because Proverbs 3:5 promises, Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. So trying to apply our limited human understanding and reason to things we can’t possibly understand and make sense of, is one of the most useless and futile things we can do. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, put it best in Ecclesiastes 8:16-17, when he said When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labor on earth—his eyes not seeing sleep day or night- then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
There’s no way we can possibly know or comprehend all that God has in HIS mind and plan for us, as confirmed in 1 Corinthians 2:9-11, which says However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” —but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. And that’s further confirmed in Ephesians 3:19-21, which says and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Instead of trying to figure out what our husbands are thinking or doing, and what God is going to do, we need to be a whole lot more focused on Romans 12:2, which tells us Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. And Philippians 4:6-7 tells us Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We have to remember and confess the Lord’s promise in Numbers 23:19, which says God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? God knows EVERYTHING, and we know nothing, especially what the future holds, as Ecclesiastes 8:7 tells us, Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? Yet we waste SO much time worrying about what’s happening and what will happen, instead of trusting God to handle everything and to fulfill every one of His promises in our lives. We’d make this time and process so much easier to bear if we’d remember this prayer from Jeremiah 10:23, where he said I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. And when Satan tries to tell us otherwise, we need to stop him dead in his tracks by speaking these verses back to him out loud:
Proverbs 21:1
The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever
he pleases.
Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 20:24
A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?
Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.
When we attempt to apply human understanding and reasoning to the situations we face, we are not taking into consideration what the Lord told us in Isaiah 55:8-11, which says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. And if we fail to rely on God’s promises and to call on Him, we can’t count on this awesome promise in Jeremiah 33:3, ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ And we can’t ever forget this powerful principle in 2 Thessalonians 1:11, which says With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. According to that, our faith will prompt good purposes and acts to be fulfilled by God’s power! So when we restrict or expect God to act within the very limited confines of human reasoning and understanding, it’s very likely that we’re also hindering the power needed to answer our prayers.