THE WORDS OF GOD

by Hallie Gipson

I have set a goal for myself this year of reading the Bible through – from Genesis to Revelation. However, as it always seems to happen, I find myself slogging through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as if they are just squares to check off as I skim through the Old Testament and eagerly move to the New Testament. But God has reminded me that there is always great purpose in every Word that has proceeded from His mouth, whether spoken directly to His people or spoken through a messenger He appointed.

In Deuteronomy, we find Moses preparing God’s people, Israel, to go in and possess the land the Lord was giving them. They had wandered in the desert for 40 years after their release from captivity in Egypt –- a rebellious and stiff-necked people who continued to disobey God. Their wandering was the consequence of their rebellion, as was the death of an entire generation. Yet despite their rebellion, their children would still possess the Promised Land!

Even though Moses would not enter the Promised Land, nevertheless, he was God’s chosen leader to prepare Israel for their new life of promise. So how did he prepare them? With the Word of God. Deuteronomy 6:1 says, “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me (Moses) to teach you . . .” 

He continues to instruct them to obey God so they will prosper in the new land. In verses 4-7 he tells them, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Of course, we know God never speaks without purpose and verse 24 give us the reason for obeying God --- “So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival. . . ” (emphasis mine)

As Moses continues to ‘preach’ to them, he implores them in Deuteronomy 8 to remember God’s gracious dealings with them. Verses 2-3 “You shall remember all the way the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” (emphasis mine)

In the final chapters of Deuteronomy, we read of Joshua’s commission as new leader of Israel, the beautiful “Song of Moses” in Chapter 32, and “The Blessings of Moses” in Chapter 33. In Deuteronomy 32:45-47 we read, “When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. (emphasis mine) And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

What the children of Israel were to learn and what we are to learn about God’s word, is that it is “for our good always and for our survival”; it is what we are to live by; and “it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life.”

If we are New Testament believers, we have God’s Word in the form of His Son to speak to us. John 1:1 tell us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We are also told in John 1:14 that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  

And His Word, Jesus, speaks with great purpose just as that of the Old Testament did.

John 6:35 –-- “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

John 11:25 --- “Jesus said to her (Martha), I am the resurrection and the life; he who believe in Me will live even if he dies.”

John 14:6 --- “Jesus said to him (Thomas), “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

We see that God’s words through Jesus are the same as He spoke to His children of the Old Testament. His Words are our ‘bread’ (sustenance), The ‘way’ we should walk, The absolute ‘truth’, The ‘life’, the way to the Father, and assurance of inheriting our Promised Land – eternal life!

My vision has definitely been re-awakened to God’s Story from Old to New!! The threads that weave themselves seamlessly through the entirety of God’s Word become treasures if we will just stop and let God’s Words --- even those of the Old Testament --- settle in our hearts and minds as words that are not ‘idle’ but are our ‘Life.’

Holy Father, thank You for how You speak through Your Word to us. Give us open hearts to receive it, ready ears to hear it, and willing feet to obey all that You command! In the precious Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.