September 24, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

Psalms 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Consider a tire chain. You know those chains that people put on their tires on occasion when the snow is deep? The chains help keep the tire from spinning and losing traction on the snow. We don’t know much about these in Texas, but in the northern regions where snowfall is abundant tire chains are vital. During the winter, there are some mountain passes that require these chains by law.

The tire chain is a web of chains harnessed together that wrap around tires. In a sense there is no beginning or ending, and upon glancing at them they look like an unorganized link of chains haphazardly hooked together (especially when they are in storage and not on a tire). However, the maker of the tire chain has a plan, a well thought out plan; there is a certain size for the circumference of the chain, a specific number of links on each chain, and there are carefully placed cross links that hold the individual hoops of chain parallel with the other loops.

To a non-tire chain user and to a non-tire chain builder these strange creations cannot be reckoned up in order. While they may look like a chaos of chain links they are actually very much in order. Seeing them on the non-moving tire is one thing, seeing them hurl around as the tire rotates down the street is like a convulsion of movement that somehow works wonderfully.

God’s thoughts toward us ….cannot be reckoned up in order…they are more than can be numbered. They are like looking at a tire chain in use, impossible to understand, but they nonetheless work perfectly. King David penned these words after God delivered him from…well why don’t you read the first four verses of this Psalm, they tell the story better than I ever could.

May the Lord bless and be pleased with your thought life today.

Dr. William Howe