As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11
Our world is awash with words. We listen to them or read them every day in their thousands. And we speak or write them too.
It’s a frightening thought, because though in one sense they are just sounds in the air or marks on the page, words are in reality more powerful than we can know. The writer Rudyard Kipling described them as “the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Words have effects. They do things.
Christianity is a faith focussed on words - or, to be more precise, upon the word of God.
How did God create the universe? By speaking words: “Let there be...” he said - “And it was so” (Genesis 1). How has he revealed himself to us? By causing certain words spoken by human beings to be gathered together into the inspired “word of God”, what now we call the Bible. How has he saved us? By causing his eternal word to “become flesh and live among us” (John 1:14).
Yes: in creation, revelation and salvation the word of God is key.
Nowhere is this better summed up than in Isaiah 55:11-12: God declares that just as rain and snow come down from heaven and water the earth to make it fruitful, “so is my word that goes forth from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55, by the way, is one of the most luminous, radiant passages in the whole Bible; if you haven’t read it recently I do recommend a re-read.)
All this is common knowledge to every Christian - or should be. But I think it leads to an exciting consequence: that our words, too, when spoken in the Spirit of Jesus, can have a similar power to achieve things. Not, of course, to the same extent as the word of God in scripture, but to a real extent nonetheless.
I can think of words spoken to me many years ago which I have never forgotten, which have become part of the furniture of my mind, and which have played an important part in making me the person I am. In shaping me as a Christian, in fact. And (to my amazement) people tell me that even some of my words have had a similar effect on them.
As I said earlier, words do things.
But if good words do good things, there’s no doubt that the opposite is also true: bad words do bad things. Words spoken in anger, jealousy or spite can cut and hurt. They can leave wounds which never entirely heal - perhaps you can point to scars on your own personality to this day many years after the hurt was inflicted?
Blaise Pascal (1623-1663), the French scholar, scientist and theologian, wrote this: “Cold words freeze people, and hot words scorch them, and bitter words make them bitter, and wrathful words make them wrathful. Kind words also produce their image on men’s souls; and a beautiful image it is. They smooth, and quiet, and comfort the hearer.”
And the American writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914 - admittedly no Christian) wrote, somewhat tongue in cheek: “Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret”.
There are of course situations where strong words are necessary. You only have to think of the ministry of Jesus himself - some of his words, particularly those directed at people who, in error themselves, were guilty of leading other people into error, were anything but “meek and mild”.
But even hard words, which on the surface may seem negative, can have a positive effect. Paul tells the Christians of Ephesus that we are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), and that sums it up perfectly. We are to speak the truth; and we are to speak it in love. To speak the truth in anger or hatred, even though it is the truth, is more a curse than a blessing. But even hard truths can be spoken in love. Motive is everything.
Let’s remember this as we mix with people today... If the word that goes out of the mouth of God “does not return empty”, the same, albeit to a much lesser degree, is true also of us.
Yes, a word spoken today, on 19 September 2018, might still be affecting and even changing somebody’s life on 19 September 2028. Or 19 September 2048. Or...
A thought both frightening and rather wonderful!
Lord God, may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be always pleasing in your sight. Amen.
Our world is awash with words. We listen to them or read them every day in their thousands. And we speak or write them too.
It’s a frightening thought, because though in one sense they are just sounds in the air or marks on the page, words are in reality more powerful than we can know. The writer Rudyard Kipling described them as “the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Words have effects. They do things.
Christianity is a faith focussed on words - or, to be more precise, upon the word of God.
How did God create the universe? By speaking words: “Let there be...” he said - “And it was so” (Genesis 1). How has he revealed himself to us? By causing certain words spoken by human beings to be gathered together into the inspired “word of God”, what now we call the Bible. How has he saved us? By causing his eternal word to “become flesh and live among us” (John 1:14).
Yes: in creation, revelation and salvation the word of God is key.
Nowhere is this better summed up than in Isaiah 55:11-12: God declares that just as rain and snow come down from heaven and water the earth to make it fruitful, “so is my word that goes forth from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55, by the way, is one of the most luminous, radiant passages in the whole Bible; if you haven’t read it recently I do recommend a re-read.)
All this is common knowledge to every Christian - or should be. But I think it leads to an exciting consequence: that our words, too, when spoken in the Spirit of Jesus, can have a similar power to achieve things. Not, of course, to the same extent as the word of God in scripture, but to a real extent nonetheless.
I can think of words spoken to me many years ago which I have never forgotten, which have become part of the furniture of my mind, and which have played an important part in making me the person I am. In shaping me as a Christian, in fact. And (to my amazement) people tell me that even some of my words have had a similar effect on them.
As I said earlier, words do things.
But if good words do good things, there’s no doubt that the opposite is also true: bad words do bad things. Words spoken in anger, jealousy or spite can cut and hurt. They can leave wounds which never entirely heal - perhaps you can point to scars on your own personality to this day many years after the hurt was inflicted?
Blaise Pascal (1623-1663), the French scholar, scientist and theologian, wrote this: “Cold words freeze people, and hot words scorch them, and bitter words make them bitter, and wrathful words make them wrathful. Kind words also produce their image on men’s souls; and a beautiful image it is. They smooth, and quiet, and comfort the hearer.”
And the American writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914 - admittedly no Christian) wrote, somewhat tongue in cheek: “Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret”.
There are of course situations where strong words are necessary. You only have to think of the ministry of Jesus himself - some of his words, particularly those directed at people who, in error themselves, were guilty of leading other people into error, were anything but “meek and mild”.
But even hard words, which on the surface may seem negative, can have a positive effect. Paul tells the Christians of Ephesus that we are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), and that sums it up perfectly. We are to speak the truth; and we are to speak it in love. To speak the truth in anger or hatred, even though it is the truth, is more a curse than a blessing. But even hard truths can be spoken in love. Motive is everything.
Let’s remember this as we mix with people today... If the word that goes out of the mouth of God “does not return empty”, the same, albeit to a much lesser degree, is true also of us.
Yes, a word spoken today, on 19 September 2018, might still be affecting and even changing somebody’s life on 19 September 2028. Or 19 September 2048. Or...
A thought both frightening and rather wonderful!
Lord God, may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be always pleasing in your sight. Amen.
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