Isa 55:8-9 is often used to prove that believers, as children of God, can not truly understand their own father.
8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
At first glance these verses do seem to say that we can never know our God, that He is just too far above us to comprehend. By accepting that God is incomprehensible it becomes easy to accept impossibilities such as the trinity, transubstantiation, the saints in heaven, and many other non-biblical ideas. Nobody can possibly understand let alone comprehend three beings in one, but if God is taken to be above our understanding it can, and has unfortunately become the "cornerstone "of the Christian doctrine.
So, exactly whose thoughts is God talking about?
Isa 55:7,
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Well, that certainly puts a new light on the matter. No commentary necessary. Just read what's written and it becomes clear that it is the non-believer who is spoken of in the next 2 verses. It's quite true that God's ways and thoughts are far above those of the natural man, the non-born again individual. But what about those who seek to know God by reading and studying His word, the Bible?
Let's start by backing up one more verse in this section of Isaiah,
Isa 55:6,
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Why would God ask us to seek Him if we couldn't understand Him? Wouldn't that be a cruel joke indeed? Furthermore verse 6 clearly says he may be found. He can be found because He is near. He is not some mysterious concept beyond our comprehension. He can be understood as easily as we understand that two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen make water, or that the sky is blue.
Eph 5:1,
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
God wants us to follow Him. The word "followers" is the Greek word "mimetes" which is recognizable as our English word "mimic." How can one mimic something that is incomprehensible? They can't. If God wants us to mimic Him, it becomes necessary that we understand Him.
A search of the phrase "that ye may know" in the Bible (KJV) shows that God does want us to know. It can be found no less than 17 times in the scriptures. Perhaps the epitome of "that ye may know" is found in Ephesians.
Eph 1:17-21,
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places],
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
It certainly doesn't appear from these verses that God wants to keep us in the dark. He wants us to know without a doubt the exceeding greatness of His power which He demonstrated by sending His son to redeem sinners.
1Cor 2:15-16,
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
How can we judge all things unless we are fully informed as to who God is? Do we have the mind of Christ or not? Does Christ understand God? Whatever Christ knows about God, we, as born again believers, can also know. That's what "we have the mind of Christ" means or words have no meaning and we may as well throw the Bible in the trash.
Some will undoubtedly bring up the following verse in Romans to prove we can't know God.
Rom 11:33,
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Taken out of context, it does seem to say we can't know God. But what is the context? The book of Romans tells us how God, through the life and work of His son Jesus Christ, was able to defeat sin and death. The plan He used (the logos of John 1:1) was nothing short of the most brilliant plan ever devised. God had to correct the mistake made by one man with free will, i.e. Adam. He had to do it through the second Adam, i.e. Jesus Christ who also had free will. Now Jesus could hardly be considered a second Adam if he were God. Adam was a man and therefore our redeemer also had to be man.
1Tim 2:5,
For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Jesus was not some grotesque kind of god-man, but a man just like Adam. It would have been much easier for God to have simply come down to Adam and Eve and shed His blood right then and there instead of the temporary measure of giving them animal skins to cover themselves. But as a just God, He had to correct the mistake made by one man by way of another man, Jesus Christ, the second Adam. That was not so easy. But God managed to come up with just such a plan, whereas no man could have ever dreamed up the solution to the problem. It is dishonest to use this verse to justify any nonsensical theo-unlogical idea someone chooses to propound. It simply means God's plan, the logos, was eminently profound, deep, and brilliant.
I offer the following as proof that we can know our God, that there is no need to wonder.
Col 3:10,
And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
God, by the work of His dear son Jesus Christ, created a whole new creation within the born again believer. It is not an improved version of the flesh (in which there is no good thing [Rom 7:18]), but a whole new creation. The Bible explains that new creation and it does so in such a way that we are never left in the dark as to who God is and what He has done for us. We can know. I'd run from any pulpit that promoted the idea that God is beyond our comprehension. If such an idea were true, then why does anything at all come out of that pulpit? It is admittedly coming from a perspective of ignorance. Our God is much bigger than that!
Finally, I offer the following verses to show that we can know the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Prov 14:6,
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and [findeth it] not: but knowledge [is] easy unto him that understandeth.
Isa 35:8,
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err [therein].
Matt 11:25,
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Jas 3:17,
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
If you want to know God, you only need study His Word wherein He makes Himself known to those who hunger and thirst for truth. He is a personal God who longs for you to understand who He is and what He has done for you. He holds nothing back when it comes to life and Godliness.
2 Pet 1:3,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
