Lesson 14: God's Wisdom Knows It All

I share a sad but true story of a man who almost lost everything due to an addiction problem:

"It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. But the next thing I knew, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone 'to relax' I told myself. But I knew it was not true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment do not mix, but I could not stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Plato and Camus. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, 'What is it exactly we are doing here?'

And things were not going well at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. Soon I had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in and said, 'Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you cannot stop thinking on the job, you will have to find another job.' This gave me a lot to think about. So I came home early after my conversation with the boss and I confessed to my wife, 'Honey, I was thinking...'

And she said, 'I know you have been thinking, and I want a divorce.'

'But honey, surely it is not that serious,' I said.

'But it is serious,' she said, her lower lip starting to quiver. 'You think as much as college professors, and college professors do not make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we will not have any money!'

Impatiently I replied, ‘That is a faulty syllogism.' She began to cry.

I had enough so I snarled, `I am going to the library,' and I stomped out the door.


I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I raced into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors, but to my dismay, they would not open. The library was closed!

To this day, I believe that God was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Aristotle, a poster caught my eye that asked, 'Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?'

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. Today, I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. Now that makes you think, do you agree?

This man almost lost it all from his thinking problem. The reason this story is so funny is because there is an element of truth to it. More than ever, people are turning off their brains, especially when it comes to the spiritual things, and they wonder why their lives are falling apart. It is not because they are thinking too much; it is because the one book that requires us to do some thinking and tells us Who God is, is sitting on bookshelves collecting dust. It is called the Bible! But too few, including Christians, are studying the Bible. Many Christians’ are now filled with just as many questions and just as much pain as the rest of the world.

* How important is the Bible to your life today?