Intrusive Thoughts

Something has been on my mind recently. My students shared a phrase found in some memes on how some people “let the intrusive thoughts win." Curious, I went to seek out what exactly these “intrusive thoughts” meant. According to an article from Harvard Health Publishing, an intrusive thought “seems to come out of nowhere - a strange, disturbing thought or a troubling image that pops into your mind”, and these “disturbing thoughts that pop into your mind unbidden may make you feel uneasy, but they are common.” It led me to do a bit of soul searching, contemplating the kind of intrusive thoughts I have, and more importantly, whether or not I “let them win”.

It is prudent to begin with how no intrusive thought is secret to God. In Ecclesiastes 12:14, we are told that “[...] God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil”. In Daniel 2:22 we are again warned that, “[God] revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him”. No intrusive thought is a secret to God. In fact, since Old Testament times, we are warned to “keep thy heart (inner man, mind, understanding) with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”, as seen in Proverbs 4:23. There are metaphors about how one should keep your heart/thoughts pure; some liken it to a garden, where we must plant beautiful thoughts, and weed out the intrusive thoughts that invade and despoil the garden. Some think it akin to how one nourishes the body, and the adage of “rubbish in, rubbish out” is applied to describe what kind of thoughts are produced when one thinks about, ponders, and reflects upon “the issues of life” mentioned earlier in Proverbs 4:23. Intrusive or not, what we think about matters every waking moment. Some might even bring up a Chinese adage that says, 日有所思，夜有所梦, where it goes so far as to state that what we think about during the day will haunt us in our dreams at night. What do we think about all day? What are we putting in our hearts and minds? Jesus lambasts the Pharisees for the evil thoughts they harboured in their hearts in Matthew 12:34-35, labelling them “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. [35] A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”. What is found and what has remained in our hearts? Will God find good or evil in there?

Yes, intrusive thoughts do exist, and they happen more commonly than you might think, especially so in the age of the third and fourth industrial revolution we find ourselves in, where distractions and evil thoughts abound in this world, and are often literally at our fingertips. I find the lyrics in the first stanza of the hymn “How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts” especially apt here, for it exhorts us to “guard our lives from sin”, and to “keep the conscience clean”. How can we do so? The answer is simple, but it takes diligence and our entire lives, consciously and subconsciously, to keep our hearts pure. It is mentioned in the hymn “How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts” as well, and it is simply to study the Bible, because “[God’s] Word is everlasting truth; how pure is ev'ry page! That holy book will guide our youth and well support our age”. I particularly like those last four words, where the knowledge of God’s will and law can and will support us in any age, whether we be young or old, or even amongst the different ages of human civilisation, regardless of which industrial revolution. Philippians 4:8 kicks off what are my final thoughts regarding intrusive thoughts, where it exhorts and encourages us by saying “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”. We can choose not to let the intrusive thoughts win, even if they do invade the garden of our minds, so long as we weed them out with a focus on things above, replacing it with virtuous thoughts that will lead us to Heaven.

More than simply doing some soul searching on our own, what will God find in our hearts when He searches our soul? Did we let the intrusive thoughts win and allow them to take up permanent residence in our minds? Or have we heeded the wisdom of the psalmist in Psalm 119:97-98, who declares “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. [98] Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me”. At the end of our days or at the end of days, I pray that for me, as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ, we can proudly say what another psalmist wrote in Psalm 19:14, proclaiming “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer”.