by Amanda B. McKelroy | March 15, 2018
Do you ever walk away from a conversation wondering, “Why did I say that?” Or “When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?” I do, much more often than I care to admit. I want to be a person that is full of joy and gratitude, not someone who complains or criticizes. I fail daily. If I’m being fully transparent, the failure starts with my thoughts not with the actual conversation. I can only say things I’m thinking. To fix my words, it only makes sense that I need to get my thinking under control.
“Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.” Proverbs 16:3
*What types of thoughts do we struggle with?
– anger -bitterness -depression -self-loathing -unworthiness -selfishness
-fear -worry -disagreement -injustice -angst -uncertainty
God promises that He will establish my thoughts if I commit my works to Him. That sounds great, but what does the Bible mean when it says my thoughts will be established? Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines “established” as:
- To institute permanently by enactment or agreement
- Obsolete: settle
- To make firm or stable
- To introduce and cause to grow and multiply
- To bring into existence
- To put on a firm basis
- To put beyond doubt
I like this definition! It’s encouraging. But I am a visual learner and from the definition by Webster I don’t have a good mental picture of what that looks like in real life. Let’s allow the Bible define itself by looking at the first time the word “establish” was used in the Scriptures. There is a great story that can give us a mental picture of what having thoughts established by God looks like in real life and it’s found in Genesis 6. It is the story of Noah and the ark.
“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch…And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under the heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living things of all flesh…two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Genesis 6:13-22 (emphasis mine)
In those days, the earth had never seen rain. The Bible records that a mist would come up from the ground to water the plant life. Noah is told by God to build a boat large enough to house his family and two of every kind of animal, on dry land, when the earth had never seen rain. It was completely illogical! Can you imagine what Noah must have been thinking? Can you imagine the doubts and fears that must have run through his mind? Noah didn’t even argue with God’s logic, he simply did what God asked. Along the way he must have made sure his thoughts were conquered and weren’t allowed to discourage him from fulfilling his God given purpose: to build the world’s first boat, the ark.
Noah’s Crisis:
Sometimes we find ourselves facing unexpected life circumstances. They are not ideal, not wanted, and unavoidable. Noah certainly found himself facing unexpected circumstances! He had an order from God to complete a task that nobody around him would understand, much less support. Noah had to expend himself physically, financially, and emotionally to fulfill the task God gave him. It took years of hard physical labor to complete the ark, but through all that time the Bible never records Noah doubting God or talking about how unfair his life had become.
Noah had faith in what he could not see or understand. God said do it, and so he did. He did not allow doubtful, bitter, or discouraged thoughts to hold him back from doing right. He had a commitment to the task, because God gave it to him. Sometimes God puts or allows circumstances in our lives that we don’t understand, for reasons not revealed to us. We cannot allow thoughts to creep in that will deter us from doing right and fulfilling our God given purpose. We must have faith!
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
Noah’s Response:
He committed his works to the Lord. There is no record of Noah taking a sabbatical from the work, gossiping to friends about how unfair the given task was, or complaining about the physical and financial strain of serving his God.
“By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Hebrews 11:7
Noah has been gone for many years and is still remembered as a man of faith, not a man of doubts and discouragement. He did not tell the Lord he needed to think about it, or that he needed time for himself first: he did not straddle the fence in indecision. Noah committed his works to the Lord and proceeded full steam ahead with the task at hand.
You may be thinking, “I’m not Noah. What task do I have to do for God that will result in my thoughts being established?” God gave every Christian the command to spread the Gospel and tell people about what Christ did on the cross. Every Christian has been tasked with reaching people for Christ, with telling lost souls how Christ loved them so much He died for them, rose again in victory, offers the gift of salvation from their sins, and patiently waits for them to accept Him. We can commit our works to God by fulfilling this task!
Application:
Not only are all Christians tasked with spreading the Gospel, but God also has an individual purpose for every one of His children. We are to live in the middle of His will for our lives, and for every child of God it is different. For some, it is full time ministry working at a church, for others it is to be a light to those they work with in a secular workplace. We can focus on glorifying God throughout our day and in doing so find that our thoughts have been established.
It is not easy to conquer your thoughts. God does not promise that His children will have an easier life than anyone else, but He does promise that he will establish our thoughts when we commit our works to Him. We will all face trials in life. What we do with those trials is what can set us apart and let us be a light to those around us. Consider what the Bible says about it:
“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:5
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:25-34
There is no place in the Bible where Christians are commanded to over-analyze trials or uncertain circumstances. God does not tell us to be still and over-think.
“Be still, and know that I am God:” Psalm 46:10
God tells us to commit our actions to Him, and after we do He will establish our thoughts. He won’t establish our thoughts if we have not fully committed our works to Him. Noah chose to “do,” not to sit and overthink. No doubt there were times when his mind wanted to take over and cause him to doubt God’s plan and will for this seemingly senseless task of building an ark. But Noah kept working, accomplishing God’s will for him.
God has a will for your life, and mine. The devil doesn’t need us to go wild in sin, he just needs us to stop “doing” for God. Don’t let your thoughts pull you out of the will of God by keeping you from action. Choose to commit your work to accomplishing His will for you and He will take care of your thoughts. That’s the promise of Proverbs 16:3
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
