ISAIAH 55:8 - 'FOR'

"Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will put my hand upon my mouth." (Job 40:1-4) The word 'For' in the beginning of verse 8, in Isaiah 55, is a word that is used in conjunction; in conjunction with what? It could be used in conjunction with the proceeding declaration from God; which is obvious that it is. But it also could be used in conjunction with the previous verse or verses which were laid out by Isaiah. In the opening verse, which is from Job chapter 40, God asked Job this question: "Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him? The word contendeth is 'Riv' or Ruv'; which means to toss, to grapple, wrangle, strive; to contend, quarrel, hold a controversy, plead, conduct a legal case, make a charge, defend, be an adversary, to complain, to debate, plead a cause, etc... Basically almost anything that is set against a rule or way. God puts forth this question about the state in which Job was in, and then He asked within the question whether Job should "instruct Him". This word 'instruct' is the word 'Yissor'; which means: a reprover, a blamer, one who rebukes. This word only appears once in the Bible, and it is here in Job 40:2. So what is my point in this? (That is a rhetorical question.) If the word 'For' is to be considered a conjunction of the previous verse, or even all seven verses for that matter, then what God is stating is that His thoughts and His ways are not our thoughts and our ways in the connection with returning to Him. Which could actually imply, that what we think we are to be turning from, may not be what He means for us to turn from at all; but instead could mean that He also wants us to consider our motivation or our intentions. You see, sometimes we are looking through the wrong set of standards, or in the wrong direction. The bottom line to what I am saying, is that thoughts and ways are two entirely different things. We might be on the right path, but our thoughts are wrong; or we our thoughts my be right, but the path that we are on is entirely wrong. This would be the reason that God asked Job what He did; something like this: "Will you who plead your case before Me, also blame Me for your situation or where you are at?" Because when we look at Job's response to God, we see humility: "I am vile"; this word 'vile' is the word 'Qalal', which means: to be despised, to be lessened, to be cursed; but it also means: to bring a curse upon oneself; but as if that were not enough, it also means: to make light of, to be trifling, to subside. Now, let's consider for a moment, just the preceding verse 7, and look at it like this now: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:". This time, consider that these are two totally different things: one is the path or way that we have chosen to be on; the other is the thought or reason. Maybe what we should do is look at these words a little closer? 'Way': the word is 'Derekh'; which means: a going, walk, journey, way, path, road; mode, manner, course, way of life, lot in life, and worship. More often it means the action or behaviour of men, whether wicked or righteous. 'Thoughts': the word is 'Machashavah', which means: thought, imaginations, intentions, purpose, plan, means, device; curious works, artificial work, invention, skillful work, and fortification. Both of these words are nouns; if you remember from elementary school, a noun is a person, place or thing; unlike a verb, which is an action word. So, because these are nouns, that would mean that they are established, or already set in place; because if they were verbs, they would be moving, or in motion. For example: thinking is a verb, while thought is a noun; okay, enough with English 101! Here is the bottom line again: When we are considering a response to God, we must not just look at the place in which we have ended up, but we must also consider the reason that we got there. If we do not do this, then we will most likely get there again and again. "Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice: but I will proceed no further." (Job 40:5)