Letters From Grandpa #167

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 167

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will feature the words of Charles H. Spurgeon on January 7, 1855. He was only 25 years old at the time. He said:

“It has been said by someone that the proper study of man is man. I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a king of self-content, and go our way with the thought, ‘Behold I am wise’ but when we come to this master-science finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation ‘I am but of yesterday, and know nothing’ No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God . . . But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe . . . The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as the devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.

And while humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietness for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in His immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know of nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; and so speak peace to the winds of trial, as the devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead . . . ”

I am convinced that Spurgeon was correct. Meditating about God expands your mind. Sir Isaac Newton, for example, was one of the greatest scientists of all time. His discovery of the laws of motion and universal gravitation have dominated science for three hundred years. The principles he discovered not only made it possible to predict the trajectories of comets but also our own man made vehicles launched into space. In addition to validating the heliocentric model of our solar system Newton also developed the first practical reflecting telescope. His book Philosophice Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published in 1687, laid the foundation of classical mechanics. His list of scientific accomplishments is too long to include in this brief letter, but the point is, this famous scientist was not wasting his time while he meditated upon God. Charles E. Hummel called him "the greatest scientific genius the world has known." and then added: “Yet he spent less time

on science than on theology.” Newton actually studied the Bible for days and weeks at a time and wrote 1.3 million words on the Bible and theology.

Spurgeon was right. Meditating upon God expands your mind. As we have mentioned before, Dr. George Washington Carver read the Bible every day and even took it with him to the lab. When his scientific breakthrough made him the Father of Synthetics he quickly gave the glory to God. Or consider the late Dr. Wilson Greatbatch who was the father of the pace-maker. He was a brilliant scientist who had 150 patents to his credit. As a devout believer he prayed often and was quick to give credit to God for expanding his mind to make scientific discoveries. The long list of scientists who meditated upon God includes Copernicus, Bacon, Kepler, Descartes, Pascal, Boyle, Faraday, Mendel, Kelvin, etc. etc. etc.

While TV and the social media want to fill your mind with garbage, why not draw aside like these great scientists did, and fill your mind with God.

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce