Minding Your Thoughts
A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life
January 3
Leviticus 24:12 And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them.
Knowing the mind of God is one of the great challenges of mankind. Sometimes in life the only way to safely navigate troubled waters is to find out what God thinks about the matter and trust in Him. Moses was in such a time in his life. The people came to Moses enquiring what to do about a man who was found to be blaspheming and cursing God. Moses knew that this was a serious breach of the Law of God, but did not know immediately what he should counsel the people of the community to do. Therefore, they secured the man so that he could not escape and set out to learn the mind of God on the matter. Sometime thereafter, God spoke to Moses and gave him direction, he relayed the mind of God to the people, and they obeyed. Knowing the mind of God on any matter is not easy, but it can be obtained.
In this story there was no great prayer meeting, no time of fasting, no mention of searching the law of God, they simply waited. God used this time to give principles for the people to follow in case this ever took place again. Certainly, knowing the mind of God today would include prayer, fasting, searching the Bible, and asking for counsel of people who know God, these are vital. But do not underestimate the time of waiting for God to answer.
Years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with night sweats. Or at least that is what I thought at first. The problem for these night sweats was that they were only from my knees down. Knowing that night sweats could be an indicator of serious health issues I began to wonder, “What kind of cancer could I have to cause night sweats from my knees to my feet?” Then I remembered, I was sleeping on a waterbed. I snatched off those covers and sheets, got a magnifying glass and found little pin holes. I woke up the entire household, those two heathen children that lived in my house must have stabbed holes in my bed as a prank. I brought them into my room and, well, it was awful. But they did not confess. So, I warned them to within an inch of their life, forbade them from ever coming into our room again, and told them to go back to sleep, as if that were possible. I put some liquid cement on those pin holes and went back to sleep.
The next night the same thing happened! But this time I grounded my children until they were 21 years old. I cemented the holes and tried to go back to sleep. I was mad. A few days passed without incident. Then, on a bright and sunny day, when the birds were chirping, the mood was light, and all was right in the world, my wife, the woman that God gave me, came to me in that sweet, sheepish, and sugary way she has and told me she just realized it was her! She was the one stabbing those awful holes in our bed! You see, she demurely stated, we have a new baby, and we are using real cloth diapers. To be safe, as she was taught by some other diabolical woman, when she took the diaper pins off the old diaper, she poked the diapers pins needle first into the bed. That way, if the baby rolled over she would not be stuck by a diaper pin. I’m still apologizing to my two older children.
If only I knew then to wait on God. He would have solved the issue without me looking like a raving maniac to my family.
Try not to put time limits on God. Remember the old saying, “God is never early, neither is God ever late.” You may have a timetable; God does not. Knowing the mind of God takes time and patience. It may be in the middle of the night when His mind will become clear to you on a matter, or while driving to work, or at a church service, or during your morning devotion. After all, consider this: God wants you to know His mind on matters important to you probably more than you do. He will do what is needed to let you know His thinking, it may just take time and a true willingness to yield to His thinking, but that is a lesson for another day.
May the Lord Bless and be pleased with your thought life today.
Dr. William T. Howe
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