Writer’s Life | Think A Little Deeper

“I hate Shakespeare,” my twelve-year-old son declared this week. “And I hate poetry as well.” His screwed-up face revealed his dislike for both.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s too hard to understand!” He proceeded to rant about the difficulty in interpreting the language and poetic nature of the Bard’s writing.

I listened with interest. He made the argument that Shakespeare was old-fashioned, and that his writing didn’t fit with our modern ways. That poetry didn’t apply to the youth of today—it was beyond their understanding, and the only rhyming that made any impact is rhyming song lyrics or rap.

As much as it broke my heart to hear my child hate on something I love, I think he probably represents the attitude of many of today’s youth. I thought about this attitude for a long time and I came to some conclusions. The primary one is this: We no longer think deep.

So what is thinking deep?

Joshua 1:8 says:
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (NIV)

Now, ‘meditate’ has a few meanings, but one of these is to think deeply, to ponder, to search the Book of the Law, to mentally dissect it, and consider all the parts of it.

Who has time for that? I’ve got a business to run, a household to look after. My son has school to attend, homework to complete, friends to socialize with.

But here’s the thing: no matter how busy we are, we need to take time to meditate, to think deeply, if we want to prosper and succeed. We need to decide and make the time to think deeply.

How many times have you read a verse of scripture and had no idea what it was saying? I believe we’ve all been in this situation. What do you do? Do you ignore that bit because it was too hard to understand? Do you just read a different verse? We have to make the decision to either continue to wade in the shallow end of our thinking pool, or to dive into the depths of deep understanding.

Here is what I told my son to do when faced with the enormity of Shakespearian interpretation:

1. If you don’t understand, don’t think you can’t understand.

There are many, many pieces of scripture that have stumped me over the years. Some that still have me reeling with confusion. But one thing I have discovered is that God loves us to ask Him questions about the things we don’t understand, and especially about the things in His Word that we don’t understand.

Over the years, He has astounded me with His answers, the revelations that have followed, and the eventual understanding. Don’t be scared if you don’t understand. Decide you will seek out the answer, even if that search takes a while.

2. Seek and you will find.

If interpretation was easy, we wouldn’t need the Holy Spirit to guide us. Like I told my son, Shakespeare and poetry is a study of the mind AND of the heart. The best poetry is open to individual interpretation, and you need to seek out the meaning and feeling in your innermost parts in order to gain the understanding you need.

Scripture is the same. You need the Holy Spirit to interpret what scripture is saying. Seek out that interpretation. Research. Study. Ponder in your heart.

3. Study EVERY word.

There have been times I have read a verse over and over and had no idea what it was saying. Then, for some reason, one lone word will jump out at me. I’ll give you an example:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

This is a good directive we all agree we must follow, but the word ‘anything’ means a lot more when we reach into a study of it:

Anything:
Pronoun: any thing whatever; something, no matter what.
Noun: a thing of any kind.
Adverb: in any degree; to any extent; in any way; at all.

Now, can you justify that worry when you know God’s protection and power covers ANYTHING you worry about?

4. Don’t just Google it. Ask a friend.

I’m so thankful my son expressed his dislike of poetry and verse to me, because it gave me an opportunity to discuss it with him, and to share my thoughts on his perspective. Airing your thoughts, frustrations, and struggles with those around you opens up the opportunities for debate, and opinion, which adds to your search in understanding.

Does all this sound like a lot of work? Well, it is! Thinking deep, pondering, dissecting is a hard work. But there are so many wonderful breakthroughs that come when you practice deep thinking. Don’t believe me? Well, this is what we can gain when we take the time to ‘Think Deep’:

“Making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2: 2—5 (ESV)

(First seen in Book Fun Magazine Nov 2018. – And now for a current update: My son finished in the top third for external English assessment in his final year of schooling last year. The exam was on Macbeth. He no longer dislikes Shakespeare. :-))