The Bible Breakdown

Isaiah 55: Teaching Calculus to a Grasshopper

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 633

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Speaker 1:

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, isaiah, chapter 55, and today's title is Teaching Calculus to a Grasshopper Teaching Calculus to a Grasshopper and hopefully by the time we're done that will make a little bit more sense. But before we do that, as always, while you're getting your Bible open and getting everything ready, let me remind everybody else to make sure you are like sharing and subscribing to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and let us know how you are interacting with God's word, what a blessing it is for you, because when people check the podcast, they look at those reviews to see what they can expect, and so tell people what they can expect when they check out the podcast. Also, on the YouTube channel, make sure you are subscribing it doesn't cost you anything, but it helps us out a whole lot and leave us comments, because it helps us to relate to one another. Also, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. The more we dig, the more we find, and there's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job, doing devotions every single day on these chapters.

Speaker 1:

Well, as I said, if you have your Bibles. I want to open it with me to Isaiah, chapter 55. God's Word is going to say something here that we say a lot of times, and actually Peter, when he writes 1 and 2 Peter, he is going to quote this scripture, and so it's very important that we know this. It's going to be verse 9. But it reminds me of this problem that I have over and over again and I'm not going to put this on you, but I'm going to say this with me and that is, I often do not understand what God is doing, and it is frustrating. All right, for some reason, I think I should know I was like God. Okay, look, you have given me this life, you have given me the family I have. All of this is yours, but you've given me the opportunity to be part of it. So can you let me know what's going on every once in a while? Could you fill me in? Sometimes, right, and there are some times when God does, but most of the time he doesn't. I cannot tell you how frustrating that is to have no idea what God is doing most of the time. And I have just, I've struggled with this so much in my life and it's, and I'm not like a control freak or anything, I'm just curious. By nature, like God, I have no idea, and many times I think I have a really good idea as to what God should do and who he should heal and the way he should do it and all of that. And often, most of the time should I say 99% of the time God does it differently and it is a struggle for me to figure that out. But as I think about it, it really helps me. To think about God. Trying to teach me his ways is like trying to teach calculus to a grasshopper. I want to read this. We'll get to that verse and then at the end I'm gonna try to explain to you what it is I'm trying to say and we'll see if it will help you in the way it's kind of helped me when it, when it talks about the idea of understanding God's wisdom. You ready.

Speaker 1:

Isaiah, chapter 55, verse one, says this is anyone thirsty? Come and drink, even if you have no money. Come, take your choice of wine or milk, it's all free. Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does no good? Listen to me and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.

Speaker 1:

Come to me with your ears wide open and listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. You will also command nations you do not know. The peoples unknown to you will come running to obey because I, the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.

Speaker 1:

Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. Amen to that right.

Speaker 1:

Verse eight my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. Here it is. I'm gonna read that again. Verse eight my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord, and my ways are far above anything you can imagine, for as high as the heavens are, higher than the earth. So my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seeds for the farmer and bread for the hungry.

Speaker 1:

It is the same with my word. I send it out and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all that I want it to and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song and the trees of the fields will clap their hands. Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow, the needles grew and myrtles will sprout up. Where needles grew and myrtles will sprout up. Where needles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord's name and they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.

Speaker 1:

First of all, before I get to the main point, I love where God says my word will always produce fruit. That is such an encouragement when we read through God's Word every day because, if we can be honest, there are times we read through God's Word and we get so much out of it. But, as I've heard from some of you reading through some of the chapters in the book of Isaiah, you're like you know. I sure wish we could go back to the Song of Solomon, because some of these have been difficult to get through right. But God's Word makes a promise, because some of these have been difficult to get through right, but God's word makes a promise. He says every time you plant my word, it will always produce fruit. And so I want to encourage you to, every time we read a chapter, think of it as you planting a seed in your heart and knowing that God will always produce fruit. That's so encouraging, because there are some chapters that are hard to get through, but they'll matter. God's producing more fruit than we can realize, such as in this chapter when he says just as the heavens are high above, so my thoughts are higher than yours. And it makes me think of.

Speaker 1:

God sits outside of time and space. Right, he looks at time and space from an outside perspective. It's almost like looking at a book. He sees the beginning and he sees the end, and he sees everything in between, and so he is able to see everything from such a different perspective as us. The Bible says in the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. I love how CS Lewis says that when God spoke the world into existence everything. It's like the Big Bang everything flung out into existence. And he said we are still reverberating on the echo of God speaking the world into existence. I love that idea. God had to speak once and we're still living on the echo of the creation of all things. That's how big and how powerful God is. That means God is speaking and thinking in a seven-dimensional way that we can't even get our minds around.

Speaker 1:

And it would be just like one of us deciding to teach calculus to a grasshopper. Think about that for a moment. Teach calculus to a grasshopper. Can you think of how many barriers there are before you could even do that? First of all, we would have to understand calculus, okay. So for many of us, that already counts us out. So you have to understand math, and then algebra, and then advanced algebra, and then all these other things and geometry and stuff, and then you get to calculus, right? So there's all those barriers.

Speaker 1:

Well, once you fix us, let's talk about the grasshopper. All right, the grasshopper, his brain is not big enough to understand language. So then you've got to completely change the grasshopper until it can understand language. Well then, you've got to teach the grasshopper our language, right, then you've got to teach it how to reason, then you've got to teach it math, then you've got to teach it pre-algebra, then algebra, then algebra two, then geometry.

Speaker 1:

You know what I'm saying? There are so many barriers, so many impossible barriers. I was done at just learning calculus myself, right Like I am not a math guy, that's my wife. She's the math person in our family. But there are so many impossible barriers that when I said teaching calculus to a grasshopper, you immediately thought, well, that's crazy, that's silly. Who would ever try that? You know why? Because there's like a hundred barriers that are all impossible.

Speaker 1:

Can I tell you that's exactly what it would be like if God were to try to tell us what it is he's doing. God is so, his decisions are so interconnected in seven-dimensional time and space that there is no way for us to understand what he is doing. And I think most of the time the reason why God doesn't tell us what he's doing is we wouldn't get it. That would be like so one time I went. I went fishing with my grandfather and we were going to use crickets. Okay, crickets are not grasshoppers, but they're pretty close, right. And we were going to use crickets to fish with. And can I tell you I had a hard enough time putting a worm on a hook. I don't want to put a cricket on a hook, but that's what we were fishing with.

Speaker 1:

And there was a part of me that wanted to explain to the cricket. Mr Cricket, mr Jiminy, the cricket, if you don't mind not dying when I do this, because I need you to hop around on top of the water for me I wanted to explain to the cricket what our game plan was. Well, first of all, mr Cricket wouldn't have cared because he was going to die in the process, right? But there was no way I could explain to Jiminy what we were going to be doing. Well, that's a little bit what it's like with God.

Speaker 1:

So can I tell you something? Maybe this doesn't help you, but it helps me when I'm going through a difficult season in my life when God says can you trust me? But God, I want to understand. I know you want to understand, son, can you trust me? Proverbs 3, 5 and 6,. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge trust in him and he will direct your path. But God, I want to understand and I wonder if God's going. I get you. Can I tell you? I would love to explain it to you, but you won't get it. Sure I will. God Give me a chance.

Speaker 1:

The problem is is your brain's not big enough? Like, once again, if I wanted to speak to Mr Jiminy the Cricket or a grasshopper, they wouldn't understand anyway because their brain wouldn't work. So the bottom line is God is so much bigger than us. That's why he says you trust me. Can you trust me? Can you trust that I am doing something that is so complex that you may not even see the fruit of it for years to come, but I am working and I am doing and I'm going to make it so that all things work together for your good.

Speaker 1:

So I want to ask you this question Is there an area of your life where you're struggling to trust God? There is for me. I have places where I'm choosing to trust God, but it's hard. What if we were to say today you know what God? I don't understand what you're doing and I understand that that is in no way you trying to hurt me. That is in no way you trying to do anything against me. It is because you love me that you say just trust me, because I wouldn't understand. And you are still loving me and carrying me along the way. If we will do that, I promise you there is a peace that can come your way. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1:

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you give us the opportunity to trust you, and that's a blessing, because you are trustworthy. I pray today that we will turn over all of our fear, all of our doubt, all of our worry. We'll turn it over to you and trust that you're always doing something so much more complex than we can imagine. In Jesus' name, I pray amen, and we'll say this with me. God's word says in Isaiah, chapter 12, verse two God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me the victory. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Isaiah, chapter 56.

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Brandon Cannon

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