As a young woman (and a young believer), I had the belief that God was distant and unknowable.  There was no way to relate to Him even with the perfect Jesus as a mediator.  Hearing Isaiah 55:8-9 quoted in church left quite an impact on me!

“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. 
Isaiah 55:8-9

Or how about 1 Corinthians 2:11.

 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:11

Welp, these verses confirmed my belief that NO ONE knows the thoughts of God, and in turn, that belief determined my distant experience with God.  But is it Truth?

Praise God that He led and taught me about context! Yes, these verses isolated by themselves (which is how I heard them) would appear that we can never understand God’s thoughts.  But let’s take a closer look.  

The preceding verse in Isaiah…

 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Isaiah 55:7

Who is Isaiah writing to?  The wicked and the unrighteous, who need to forsake their ways and their thoughts in order to be pardoned by God.  Are you the wicked and unrighteous?  If by faith you have forsaken your ways and your thoughts in order to receive Jesus Christ then you are no longer numbered among that group!  You have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of light!  (Colossians 1)

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:11

Isaiah 55:8-9 speaks to the non-believer rejecting God. Not to you, dear Saint.  

So, what about 1 Corinthians 2:11?  Get ready for some exciting crazy good news!!!   Let’s read and consider the context!

However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 
1 Corinthians 2:9-12 (emphasis mine)

Lord Almighty!  How did I miss those bold verses all these years?!  The point of this passage is not to tell us how that we can’t know God’s thoughts, but the opposite.  We have received the Spirit from God in order for God to reveal His thoughts to us!  

My brain is exploding with the very idea that God is eager to invite us into His thoughts and ways.  It is the polar opposite of how I viewed God for years.  He is not distant and unknowable.  He has done all the work so that He can FREELY give to us through the Spirit!

I pray that this wrecks any distorted views you have of your heavenly Father as distant.  He is the Father that wants to know you and be known by you! Once your beliefs have changed, then your expectation and your experiences with God can change also.   Seek God and ask Him what He thinks. May His revelations astonish and amaze you!  

Did you know that you can make the cross of Christ void?!  The word of the cross is the power of God to us who are being saved!  How could we possibly make the cross empty, useless, vain?

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
1 Corinthians 1:17

The short answer: cleverness of speech.  

It can also be translated as wisdom of speech.  Paul was a well-educated man; a religiously well-trained man.  Yet he knew that his human education and human wisdom were NOTHING to depend upon.  

Paul wasn’t trying to be clever when he was presenting God’s wisdom.  In fact, he knew that he was presenting a stumbling block to his audience.  His audience thought that the message of Christ crucified was weak and foolish. Yet, Paul was unashamed to appear weak and foolish.  

I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:3-5

I want your faith to rest on the power of God!!  Anytime you trust in your human resources you deprive yourself of God’s resources.  Likewise, I want you to follow spiritual leaders who consistently display the Spirit and God’s power in their lives because of their faith, not someone who depends upon their wisdom and credentials so that they deliver a witty, persuasive sermon.  

Any fleshly effort to be strong and wise (even for the preaching of the gospel) will void the cross of Christ.  So, how willing are you to appear weak and foolish?

I may appear foolish, but I’m willing to be God’s fool for Christ!  Most gladly will I boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Join me as we seek to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2

I would love for you to engage God as you meditate on this verse this weekend:

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9

God is faithful. It is who He is. He will always be faithful to you even if you are unfaithful to Him. His desire is to demonstrate to you His grace and peace and loving-kindness! And He has done just that through the sending of His Son.

God has called you! He speaks your name with tenderness to invite you into a relationship that you could have never reached on your own. God placed you into Christ and placed Christ into you! He has done the work of uniting you into fellowship with Jesus Christ.

The call to have fellowship with God’s precious Son is the highest of callings! Who could have conceived that the King of kings wants to partake of your existence here on planet Earth? But that is what He wants.

It is through the Son that all blessings flow. Your ongoing relationship with Him allows His Life to flood into your life. And His Life is powerful!

But seek not just the blessings of His Life, but the Blessed Himself! He is your devoted bridegroom waiting to share in all of life alongside you.