Will you please take the third of the following lines by Henry Van Dyke as the subject of your editorial at an early date, and write not only upon the value of clear thought, but, if possible, give us some rules that, patiently followed, will enable those who, like me, have had no early training, to think clearer and better than we do?
Four things a man must learn to do, If he would make his record true:To think without confusion, clearly.
The value of correct thinking is so obvious that no argument is needed to prove it; but how to think correctly and to good purpose is what many do not know; and none can know it too well. Therefore this phase of the subject will claim all our attention at present. "The Lord gives wisdom; out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:6)
Vain Thoughts
"The Lord knows the thoughts of man that they are vanity." (Psalm 94:11)
This is emptiness; and this includes even the thoughts of "the wise," for: "The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God." (1 Corinthians 3:20)
Therefore while it might seem that we think naturally, that no thought need to be taken about it, but that we, so to speak, can "think without thinking," the truth is that all men have to learn to think. The text just quoted shows us that much that is called thought is really not thought at all.
Often have I heard people proceed to tell what they "thought" about some portion of the Bible, when their words demonstrated that they had no thought about it whatever. They had only dreamed and conjectured.
God's Enduring Thoughts
Where shall we go to learn how to think? Evidently to the One who knows most about it; to the One who is the Author of thought. He says to us: "Seek you the Lord while He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near: 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. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says 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." (Isaiah 55:6-9)
Our thoughts are so inferior to God's thoughts, so utterly empty, that the only thing to be done with them is to cast them aside, and take His instead. God's thoughts are the only ones that are of any value. Note the contrast in the following two statements: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help. His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalm 146:3-4) "The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations." (Psalm 33:11)
It is not simply that man ceases to think when he dies. That is true, but the text says more than that: all that he has thought comes to an end; there is no enduring substance to it; but the Lord's thoughts, on the other hand, are of such a nature that they endure for ever.
From this it appears that a real, true thought is a thing-something substantial. We can see this from a moment's study of words. In the Greek the same word indicates both "word" and "reason;" and the word in Hebrew which means "word," means also "thing." To "think illogically" is really not to think at all; while to think logically, according to reason, is to think according to the Word, which is God; and that means the formation of a thing that has substance to it, and which will never perish.
It must now be quite apparent that much that is called thought is not thought, but only fancy. It is, just as the Lord says, emptiness, imagination. Now there is no profit in building castles in the air. Life is too precious to be wasted in conjuring up something that will soon vanish out of sight, leaving nothing to mark the place where it seemed to be. So good sense would teach us to go to the Master of thought, and learn of Him. He invites us, and will teach us free of charge.
Learning How to Think
What is the first step in learning how to think thoughts that will endure for ever? The verses already quoted from Isaiah 55 tell us: It is to seek the Lord, and find the forgiveness of sins. It is utterly to abandon our ways and our vain thoughts, casting ourselves upon God, submitting to His righteousness, and being lost in Him; to let Him be our personality. Turning from sin is the first step in right thinking. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." (Job 28:28) "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." (Proverbs 8:13) "A good understanding have all they that do His commandments." (Psalm 111:10)
David said: "I have more understanding than all my teachers; for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep your precepts." (Psalm 119:99-100)
An instance of this is seen in the case of Daniel and his three companions, who, through the fear of God, became, "in all matters of wisdom and understanding,...ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers [in Babylon];" (Daniel 1:20) that is, they were ten times wiser than their teachers. This last reference shows that we are not talking mere theory, but that this advice is practical.
From the beginning I have expected that someone would point to men who have "added greatly to the world's thought," who are "intellectual giants," but who were not Christians; but this objection can find no place when we see that however wise worldly men may be, the one who fears the Lord can, through that fear of God, obtain wisdom which worldly men themselves will admit to be "ten times better" than that of those wise men. Gain is not godliness; but godliness is great gain, in that it comprehends all that is worth having in this life, and the whole of the life to come.
Take another text, which shows that righteousness is practical wisdom. Moses said to Israel: "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land whither you go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." (Deuteronomy 4:5-6)
And again, "I hate vain thoughts; but your law do I love." (Psalm 119:113)
We see, then, that to have the law of God in the heart, controlling the life, is to possess real, substantial, enduring thoughts- thoughts that are wholly unlike the vain, empty thoughts of the ungodly. It was through meditation on the law that the psalmist got more understanding than his teachers; and of him who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, but who meditates in the law of God day and night, it is said that "whatsoever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:3)
Constant Application
There is no teacher like God, no book that equals His Word. To know God, and to be familiar with His Word, is "a liberal education." This means first of all submission to God, to do His will, and then constant application.
Take a portion of Scripture, no matter where, anything that first specially attracts you, and study it. That is, give diligence to find out just what it says; for when you have God's Word you have His thought; you can think clearly, because His Word is (logos) logic.
Note the different subjects in a chapter, if there are several, and group the details under those heads, to enable you to take in the whole at one view. Question the text, to find out the purpose of every word and sentence, and its relation to every other. Hold your mind to the exact statement, to just what the text says, and do not allow it to wander for a moment into speculation. Soon you will become so well acquainted with the portion of the Scripture that you are studying that you can "think through it" without the Bible open before you.
Then you can "meditate" upon it. You can think-not about it, but--the text itself, when you are sitting in the house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you rise up, and when you lie down. "When you go, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall keep you; and when you awake, it shall talk with you." (Proverbs 6:22)
By this means right thoughts will in time be natural to you. Every case that comes under your notice will as a matter of course be decided by the principles of truth which are your life. You will be astonished every day to see how comprehensive God's Word is, as the Spirit of God brings to your mind the thoughts-God's Word-that make every obscure thing plan.
Agents of the Holy Spirit
And this reference to the Spirit of God brings us to the conclusion of the whole matter--that we are properly but agents of the Holy Spirit. There is no perfect thought except when God thinks in us. Our brain is simply the instrument through which God will think His thoughts; and when the Word, which is Spirit and life, permeates us, and we exist only for Him to reveal himself in us, that will be the case.
Take the growing plant as an example. Watch the seed as it unfolds. See how the stem goes upward, and the rootlet downward, even though the positions be reversed as they come forth. Let some peas sprout on a thin cloth stretched over a glass of water. A single little stem comes forth, which forms both stalk and root. In some cases the peas will lie so that the root end of the stem points upward, and the stem end downwards, so that it is forced to push its way down though the cloth, toward the water beneath, while the root starts upward. But they will not continue in those directions very long. As soon as they are long enough, they will turn; the root will go down, and the stem will make its way back through the cloth, to grow upwards.
Why is this? Some people, called wise, tell us that "gravitation" draws the root downwards; but their wisdom does not tell us why it does not draw the stem down also, especially when it has been forced to start that way. Can you tell what causes it? Let us consider the plant a little further, and then we will give the answer.
Here is a plant in a dry place several yards away from a spring of water. Dig down and examine the roots. You will find that they point to the spring. The plant needs water, and the roots must get it. They lose no time searching for it in the wrong place, but go straight to the place where water is to be found. If the plant grows on the side of a wall that encloses water, then its roots will grow horizontally, instead of downwards, in spite of gravitation.
Why do not the roots sometimes make a mistake, and grow away in the opposite direction in search of water? We can answer without hesitation. It is because God is the life of the plant, and He thinks in it and acts in it. His law is its life, and the plant is submissive to it, not setting up any will of its own in opposition to it.
Now remember that the man who meditates in the law of God day and night will be "like a tree planted by the rivers of water." (Psalm 1:3)
He, like the tree, will "think without confusion, clearly," always correctly, and always to the point. God's perfect thought will be his, and he will know every right way. Study God's word, not to find distinction and honor for yourself, but for the glory of God, and He will glorify himself in you, leading you always in the way everlasting.--Present Truth, January 23, 1902.