If You Could Read My Mind

“If you could read my mind right now!”

Have you ever had someone say that to you? Have you ever said those words to someone else? It’s a funny proposition, isn’t it? I suppose in many ways, the fun is in the speculation, as the exclamation is like an invitation to make guesses about another person’s intimate thoughts. I think back to all of the times I’ve said it to someone and the common thread is that there’s something I sort of wish the other person could know, but there’s a secondary force restraining me from articulating it to them. I’ve tended to say this phrase when I’m stuck in a quandary. I think we use it to express that a certain desire exists in us that simply cannot be formulated into words, for a variety of reasons, including social constraints or taboos.

The Spirit woke me up early this morning and put this blog on my heart. It wasn’t a complete thought until I began reading Psalm 139 over my morning coffee. You’ll see why later. For now, the opening statement got me singing an old tune from 1970.

If you could read my mind love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old time movie
About a ghost from a wishing well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost you can see

If I could read your mind love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind the drugstore sells
When you reach the part where the heartaches
Come the hero would be me
Heroes often fail
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take
Based on Wikipedia’s description of the song, Mr. Lightfoot cited his divorce as the inspiration for the lyrics. I imagine divorce as being one of the most difficult times a person can go through. I’ve had people tell me how awful it is to reach such an impasse in a marriage where the only perceived relief is ending it. My guess is that the words, “If you could read my mind,” are often expressed in frustration and distress during those times. It makes me really sad.

The good news is that we believers have a Husband that actually can read our minds!

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Let us rejoice and exultand give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come,and his Bride has made herself ready.
We never have to wish that Jesus Christ, our Husband, could read our minds. Our Husband has always known every thought we’ve ever had or will have. In fact, He knew all of them while He was hanging on His Cross to pay the penalty for some of them, just so He could marry you!  Even though certain thoughts may be a bit embarrassing, or even a cause for consternation for some of us (let’s face it, we have some unholy thoughts floating around in our heads), He still sees them and not once has He ever uttered the words, “I want a divorce.” How’s that for love? His love is so extraordinary that it’s never once been deterred by the severity of our thoughts. He’s never at a loss for words the way Mr. Lightfoot apparently was when he wrote that famous song. To me, that’s wonderful news. Having a person in my life that understands me implicitly the way Jesus Christ does is a great comfort.

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,
”even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
How awesome is it to be filled with this knowledge? How incredibly edifying it is to know that the One who chose to marry us knows every thought we’ve ever had, without exception! We never have to utter the words, “If you could read my mind,” to Him; it’s implied that He already has. We don’t have to become frustrated the way we do with others, and we don’t have to worry about Him ever turning His back on us because He’s confused about our feelings for Him. He knows every time we’ve ever been angry with Him while maintaining full knowledge that we never have a righteous cause to be so. There’s no guessing with Him, only with us, which is why the Psalmist in Psalm 139 prays for light and guidance through truth. It’s almost as if he was saying to the Lord, “If I could read Your mind love, what a tale Your thoughts would tell.”

We have an intimate relationship with our loving Husband in Heaven, who’s already gone before us to prepare a place for us, His Bride. He’s done so and He’s read each of our minds perfectly for as long as we have and will live. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
Love in Christ,

Ed Collins