There is a beautiful truth in the drama of scripture; that we think too much and believe too little.  While these words are not written in this fashion in the Holy text, the principle is clearly outlined in its pages.  Contemporary humanity has replaced the beauty and the power of belief with the vanity and emptiness of groundless thought. 

To be sure, there is nothing wrong with thought; it is a gift from God.  The Scriptures declare in the latter portion of Philippians 4:8, "Think on these things." Yet if you look at the full text of Philippians 4: 6-8 you see that belief must precede thought to give thought value and substance. 

God writes through Paul, "6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ, Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

If we hear the counsel of Scripture, then we see that it is belief that must precede thought.  Now to be sure you can engage in thinking without having learned much of anything. Yet the value of what we say about things we have not learned is greatly diminished by our ignorance.  I often advise people, "Let people talk because when they are speaking their brain is on parade."  Then and only then will you truly see who they are by what they declare about themselves as they think openly by talking. 

Believe then, Think!

The Psalmist wrote, "I believed, therefore, I have spoken" (Ps.116:10a).  It is belief that inspires thought.   Some may hear these words and "think" that this is backward.  Have you ever asked someone what they "think" about a specific incident, and their response was, "I don't know enough about it to have an opinion."  Did you think that response odd, or did you respect the fact that the person wisely reserved their comments about a topic which they had no knowledge?

We must read, study, and meditate on the Word of God to arrive at conclusions; in other words, we form our beliefs.  Out of these beliefs, we can speak with authority because they should be tied to the authority of Scripture.  Can you speak with confidence about something you do not know?  Certainly, you can speak, but can you speak with confidence that what you are saying has value and substance?  What is the Truth out of which your Belief springs?  Is it your "personal truth," or is it a Truth that is greater than the narrows of our puny personal universes?

Belief is the Root; Truth is the Ground

What do you believe?  Regardless of what you believe, if it is grounded in nothing, then what you believe has no strength or power.  Beyond your own ability to speak with conviction about your groundless belief, there is no substance.  Ask yourself, what is the ground from which my belief springs? 

God declares in the opening verses of the Psalms 1 these words: " 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

There's a lot of meat this bone plucked from The Bible, but let's zero in on one truth, "The man is blessed who loves the Word of God and meditates upon it."  He is planted in ground that offers all the nourishment he needs to prosper.  The man in Psalms 1 is planted in truth more significant than his thinking could produce.  There could be no beauty in his leaf without the nourishment of the ground into which he is planted.  His leaf or "Belief," the fruit of his connection to the ground in which he is planted, is green continually and never withers.   No Ground, No Leaf is equal to No Truth, No Belief.

The strength of the tree is found in the root system, which is only barely visible above the ground.  The plant and flower may be beautiful, but if the roots are not deep  in the ground from which it draws nourishment, then it will soon wither.   The deeper the roots in the ground, the stronger the tree and the more beautiful the leaves.  The deeper your roots in the Truth of the Scriptures, our Bible, the Whole Counsel of God, the stronger you will be and the more beautiful your beliefs.  Now, "How deep are your roots?"