Isaiah 44:19 “No one stops to think.”
It’s impossible to think clearly when I’m rushing about, attending to one demand after another, and then squandering my free time with distractions. I need to stop if I want to think deeply about anything important. Stopping is the only way to draw back and see things from a fresh perspective, to truly explore a subject, and to detect if I’ve begun slipping into thoughtless conformity.
Isaiah declares that “no one stops to think” as he points to the madness of idolatry. A sculptor beseeching his block of carved wood – “Save me! You are my god!” (Isaiah 44:17) – is plainly absurd. Isaiah writes that it’s not so much the idol as the idol worshiper who has eyes “plastered over so they cannot see” and “minds closed so they cannot understand” (44:18). Modern idolatry, though less crude in form, emerges from the same root: establishing man as the only measure of everything. A closed universe begets a closed mind.
This is where it leads: We describe wanton violence as peaceful. We attack and muzzle in the name of harmony. We rage with ferocious intolerance toward anyone who disagrees with our tolerance. We dutifully submit to experts who constantly change their “indisputable” claims. We reinvent the very essence of humanity into an alphabet soup of nonsensical contradictions. The prophet Isaiah writes in 5:20-21: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” George Orwell may have borrowed from Isaiah when expressing the Party’s slogans in his book 1984: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
The more I articulate questions and put answers into written words, the more I find my thinking – however imperfect and incomplete – improves. I thank my friend, John Handelsman, for repeatedly urging me to start journaling years ago. After a series of fits and starts, I finally made it a regular discipline and it’s now an unbreakable habit that I love. I’ve also found benefit in discussing and debating ideas with candid and open-minded friends, listening to their perspectives and challenging their (and my) thinking. Both journaling and meaningful discussions are ways to Stop and Think.
Father, thank you for designing human beings with the capacity to question, reason, and verify – if only we would use it more! Help me to stop and take the time to exercise my mind, engage in meaningful conversation, study the Bible to learn your eternal perspective, and prayerfully seek wisdom – which you promise to give generously to all who ask (James 1:5).
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This week: Try it for yourself. Take a few minutes to jot down your thoughts and observations on a pressing topic, e.g., COVID-19, racism, family breakdown, free markets, anarchic riots, the news coming out of Hong Kong, climate change, the US national debt, or whatever. Force yourself to think logically and systematically. Pose questions and then carefully observe at three levels: [1] what you see for yourself, [2] what your first-person connections (and their first-person connections) report, and [3] what you can explore through reliable data sources. Most importantly, open the Bible and study what God says about the topic. This requires sustained and focused effort. Pray for wisdom and discernment. Take up your pen and return to the topic again and again, refining your thinking with each new observation, news story, and data point.
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