That makes sense, because the thoughts of human beings so easily tend towards the negative, while God's thoughts are in the realm of righteousness and of, "nothing is impossible."
It's a lifelong journey, isn't it? Learning to think the way God thinks and to view life from the Lord's perspective. No wonder the New Testament tells us that we need to have our way of thinking renewed or transformed if we want to be able to discern God's will. (Romans 12: 2)
When it comes to my house hunting journey, I think I've been doing okay so far. Someone in my house group on Tuesday even commented that I seemed quite "relaxed" about the situation. But I was aware yesterday (see post below this one) that the news about having to provide salary slips had robbed me of a little hope - hope of finding a rental home at least.
As I process this news, however, I don't want to fall into the trap of thinking my own thoughts and possible solutions. I want to truly see things through God's eyes. My NLT Bible translation of Isaiah 55: 8 says that His way is, "far beyond anything you could imagine." Ephesians 3: 20 also proclaims that God is able to do infinitely more that we might ask for or even imagine.
I can imagine plenty. I can imagine that finding some kind of private rental is the only way forward (with the usual estate agent channels now closed to me.) I can imagine that a millionaire comes along and buys me a house with a garden and a swimming pool (😀). I can imagine that finding a subletting situation (like when people rent out a room in their home or in their basement) is the only option within reach....
I can imagine a lot - some of it possible and most of it impossible - but I want to be thinking with God-anointed imagination and not just with my own human thinking and understanding.
I don't want to fall into the same mistake that I made in 1989 - when I realised one day that I didn't have too much of a problem trusting God for the impossible, but I wasn't very good at trusting Him for the possible. The situation at that time was that two friends and I had just moved into a flat together in the city of Vienna. The flat had no washing machine and we were finding it challenging and time consuming to have to travel around the city on public transport (trams and underground) carrying our dirty laundry to where there was a public laundrette and then lugging the wet washing home again.
Now, getting a washing machine for the flat was not an impossible task: you could find second hand washing machines in the classified ads of local newspapers (this was before the days of internet!) and the three of us could each contribute some money to buy one and have it installed.... albeit with the risk that the machine would come with no guarantee.
Then, one morning God spoke to me during my quiet time. "You're not really trusting me with all of your life," He said. "You trust me with things that seem really impossible, but when it comes to things that you think are possible for you to do yourself, you don't include me in that." I realised that was true and I repented, telling the Lord that I trusted Him even with this need that we could resolve "on our own."
Some time later, through a series of "coincidences," God used a lady I'd met, a complete stranger to us, to buy us a brand new washing machine for the flat!
So, in my present situation, I want to remember that God's thoughts are often quite different from my thoughts. I want to trust Him with the options that seem possible to me, as well as with the ones that seem completely out of reach. And I want to grow in seeing all of life, including my own life, from God's perspective.
