As Things Appear, Luke 4:22

"So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, 'Is this not Joseph's son?'"

     As humans confined to the senses of our physical bodies, that is, not being able to literally see or hear, smell, taste or touch the spirit world but only the physical world around us, we have a tendancy to judge circumstances by how they appear according to our own understanding and our own concepts. But things are not always as they appear. To pretty much everyone around Him, Jesus appeared to be the son of Joseph the carpenter. He had a mother that they could all see, Mary, and a father, which they could see as well. His father and His mother were married, and He had other brothers which were the sons of Mary and Joseph. Mary was a godly woman, and Joseph and godly man, placing doubt upon the idea that Jesus could have been an illegitimate child. According to every bit of human understanding, Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary.
     But we know that in actuality, Jesus was not the son of Joseph, but the Son of God. He was conceived miraculously through the power of the Holy Spirit by Mary, a virgin betrothed to marry the carpenter Joseph. No one would have ever come up with the idea that Jesus was not the son of Joseph, but the Son of God, figuring that perhaps He was conceived of a virgin by the Holy Spirit. This whole idea is far beyond the capacity of man to imagine-- and if he were to imagine it, even then it would not come to pass. But God is above the intellect of man, He is beyond the imaginations and dreams of humankind. Isaiah 55:8-9 says,

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."

And again it says in Ephesians 3:20,

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..."

The Ampliphied Bible puts it this way:

"Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]..."

     The ways of the Lord are so far beyond our own, so far past our even finding out, beyond even our comprehension-- how can we assume that what is going on around us is as it appears? When we look around us and gather information and then begin to process that information, leading us to a conclusion relating to our circumstances, we are relying upon our intellect and our understanding to give us the answer pertaining to our situation. We may look around and see a person acting in such and such a manner, and we hear how they talk and see what they do, and we put "two and two together" and decide that the reason they are behaving in such a way must be because of this or that reason. But this is not always true.
     God is actively involved in our lives, and He is working out His marvelous plan in and through everything that goes on in us and through us. When we take this into account, we can no longer assume that what we (think we) see is what is actually happening, but we are forced to admit that we are at a loss until the Lord reveals to us what He is doing. Proverbs 3:5-6 says,

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

     We ought never to judge circumstances by relying on our own understanding or intellect. I believe even when we think that something may be simple enough to figure out on our own that we have to stop and wonder if we are becoming prideful or self-dependant instead of dependant on God for everything. In the original state of Creation, man had to depend on God for everything. But eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil gave man an independance from that reliance upon God-- an independance man was never meant to have. When we remain independant and do not seek the Lord's will in every aspect of our lives, we are exhibiting the fallen nature of mankind. But in Christ we are new creations, the old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17).
     I believe that the Lord would have us present everything to Him in prayer, whether it be something that seems simple or obvious to us or something that seems overwhelmingly complex and beyond us completely. We are commanded in Philippians 4:6-7,

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

     This means that everything be presented to God in prayer! Not some things, or most things, but all things. God never intended us to have to figure things out for ourselves. And with Him at work in our lives, how could we figure things out? Whatever God is doing is probably so beyond our capability to even conjour up in our wildest imaginings that we would never guess it in a million years. But when we pray and take each step of our lives by faith and cease to rely upon figuring things out based on how they appear-- Then we will be walking down the path that God has set before us, and then we will have a peace that is unsurpassable.