His Ways Shall Be Our Ways

As many of you know, we have been learning His Ways Shall Be Our Ways in our evening service and we will be singing it this Sunday. The beginnings of this song came one early Sunday morning in July as I was meditating upon the sermon text I would be preaching in a few hours (John 6:22-35), especially as it related to Isaiah 55. In that passage (part of the “Bread of Life” discourse), Jesus tells his audience that they should not seek the food that perishes, but that which endures unto eternal life. He goes on to say that he is the one who has been sent and anyone who believes in him will never hunger or thirst.

As we have seen throughout our time in John, he is all over Isaiah. It’s as if he has his Bible app opened to Isaiah (and many other parts of Scripture) as he is writing. Isaiah 55 finds connections with various parts of his gospel (think: he’s the “water of life”), as he calls his audience to seek the Lord.

As with many songs we sing, the words are almost verbatim Scripture. The concepts and themes are drawn directly from Isaiah 55, but enhanced by the reality of the coming of Christ. For those that are interested to see the logic of the song, read on (and you should)! For those that just want to learn it, the link is below. Since we are live streaming evening service now, I decided to use a version from a couple weeks ago.

I recommend you have a Bible open to Isaiah 55 so that you can see how all this is working together.

Here’s the song:

Verse 1:

Come to the Water thirsty ones. Come buy what can’t be bought.
O come to him the only fount to fill your empty hearts
The Lord of Glory and his ways are high above the earth,
Far higher than the skies the above.

The opening of Isaiah 55 is a call to those who are thirsty to come to the waters. The “waters” are ultimately the Lord Jesus himself, as he is the Water of Life. And we all know that he is the only water that will truly fill us. As Solomon says, everything is vanity without the Lord. We are empty without him and his promise to us is to fill us, as Paul says, with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:19).

“The Lord of Glory” is a direct reference to Christ, as Paul calls him that in 1 Cor 2:8. And it’s his ways that are higher than the earth (Isa 55:9). We often think about the statement that his ways and thoughts are higher than ours as simply meaning that he does things differently and in ways that we can’t comprehend. This is, of course, true, but Isaiah 55 is saying something even more wonderful than that. Part of the point being made is that we don’t walk in his ways (Isa 55:8). However, the call is to leave those old ways and follow after him. And more than that, it’s a promise that one day we will truly walk in his ways. This leads us into the chorus.

Chorus:

Seek the Lord while he is found. Call upon his name.
Forsake your evil way
Turn to the Lord that he may pour his compassion upon you
He’ll light your way — His ways are not our ways

This is obviously drawn from what might be seen as the heart of Isaiah 55 (vv 6-7). It’s a call to turn/repent and come to the Lord with the knowledge that he will abundantly pardon us for our sin. And his compassion toward us does not end there. He will light our way, which is a theme throughout Isaiah, John and the whole of the Bible. He will lead us into paths of righteousness. However, as this chorus ends, we are reminded that our ways are not yet like his: his ways are not our ways.

Verse 2:

Why do you labor for the food that cannot satisfy?
O come to me and eat what’s good; come find your true delight
For as the rain and snow sent down to flower all the earth
My Word of Life shall never fail
Chorus ending: “I’ll light your way. Your ways shall be my ways”

This verse begins by taking us back to Isaiah 55:2. We sing it from the perspective of the Lord singing to us, specifically the Father (if this seems strange to you, try to notice how often our hymns and Psalms do the same thing). We are struck with the reality that we often go after things that don’t give us true life. And yet, the Lord graciously and lovingly offers us true food. And this food is what our true hearts in Christ really desire. Therefore, in him, we find our “true delight.”

Also we hear the Lord promising to send his word (Isa 55:10:11). That word, like the rain and snow, comes to “bring forth and sprout” life. Those of you in our Genesis study in Sunday school will immediately recognize the words from Genesis 1. This promised Word is, of course, a reference to Jesus. He is sent by the Father to come and accomplish his purposes and he will never fail to do it. This is great hope for us in Christ and we can hear the words of Paul: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6). He will cause us to delight in him. He will cause us to sprout fruit. He will raise us up. This is part of the reason why, at the end of this chorus, we hear him personally say to us: “I’ll light your way. Your ways shall be my ways.” Remember that this is what is being promised in Isaiah 55. He will make us like him.

Verse 3:

We will go out in his great joy. He’ll lead us forth in peace
The mountains and the hills break forth and we will hear them sing:
“The God of heaven has fulfilled his promise to the earth!”
And we forever will rejoice!
Chorus ending: He’ll light our way. His ways shall be our ways

Where is this all going to lead us? Into the joy of our Lord and Savior. This verse is drawn from Isaiah 55:12. However, this time we are singing to each other. We are singing to our own hearts of what is ahead of us. And part of what awaits us is the time when creation is freed from its bonds (Romans 8) and sings its own song of how the Lord has done all that he has promised. Our voices will be joined to all of creation, rejoicing for all eternity in the Lord.

This is partly why this chorus ends with an encouragement to us that the Lord will light our way to him. He will be our light and be with us through it all as we walk in this world with his promise that one day to us that his ways shall be our ways. The call and promise of Isaiah 55 will be fulfilled in its fullest.

The chorus stands as an encouragement to us that even now we can begin to leave our old ways and walk in his. Though we are awaiting the reality of verse 3 (of the song) to come to fruition, even now we can seek the Lord, call upon him and turn to him that he may pour out his compassion upon us. And this is not just so that he would forgive us, but conform us into the image of Christ. Since this is his promise to us, we can sing it with all our might, knowing that the Lord truly delights to fulfill his promises to us.

Here is the link to the live stream. Start at minute 7:13. Here is the lead sheet. I’m looking forward to singing it together on Sunday!