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Have you ever had someone come up to you and ask you if they could have a word with you? When they did what was the first thing that came to mind? “Oh no I am in trouble now!” In reality when someone comes up to you and says something like that it could mean you are in trouble with them or it more likely means that they have something important to tell you. When someone wants to have a word, it is a medium in which thoughts are expressed. Speaking with someone is our sharing our words with them so we can communicate to them our thoughts, ideas, desires, troubles and the like. It is our way of expressing something to them. When we come to the Word of God we can see clearly from it that it is in the nature of God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others through words. God is always seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. He fills the whole of creation with His voice. Psalm 33:6–9 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. God speaks and life comes. The voice of God is the most powerful force in all of creation because in His voice is the power filled word.
The Bible is the written word of God and in it is the power of God speaking. It is more than just words written down, but is the word of God which has power to go to work in us. Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. When we think about God creating all things, what is the picture that comes to mind? A carpenter with his hammer and saw ready to go to work or some other picture? This is not at all how God functions. The passage that we looked at in Psalm 33 tells us that God spoke and all things were created. God made what is, from that which did not exist. Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. God spoke and it came to be long before His word was given to man in writing and He continues to speak to man through all He created. Rom. 1:18-20
He is still speaking to us through His word and through creation. He speaks His words to us and He lives in them because they are spirit. Just as God breathed on clay and it came to life, as man, so He breathed upon it again and it returns to clay once more. Psalm 90:2–3 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.” This happened at the fall of man into sin where God decreed death as the penalty of man’s sin, death is separation from God. No another word had to be said about the matter, all one has to do is to look back over the history of man and we will see that death entered into the world from that point on. God’s spoken word was enough. Just as death went forth from God speaking, so life goes forth from God’s Word coming to us. John 1:1-5 The Word of God came, bringing life and light with Him, available to all who will listen, those who are spiritually in tuned. John 12:28–29 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. When the Father spoke to Jesus people said it had thundered. What they heard was beyond their conception because they were not in tune with the spiritual, so it seemed mysterious to them. This is one of the problems we are having today; people, when they hear the sound of thunder think it is mysterious, looking to science to explain it away. While the person who is in relationship with God falls on their knees in worship saying “God”. We live in a secular age, our thoughts and habits are like those of scientists and not worshippers. Most Christians are more likely to explain it away than to worship.
But God’s voice still sounds and searches for those who will hear; Rev. 3:6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. But most are to busy or to stubborn to give attention. Most of us have had an experience which we have not been able to explain; a sudden sense of loneliness, a feeling of wonder in the face of universal vastness or the like. Something that makes us know we are not alone. These and others like it may have been moments when God’s voice reaches out to our spirit’s to speak comfort, peace or His presence to us. When God speaks His voice is friendly. There is no reason to fear it, unless one has decided to resist it. It is a friendly voice that we should not fear because the blood of Jesus has covered the human race and all of creation so that everyone and all things can be redeemed, reconciled to God. Col. 1:19–20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. The heavens and earth are filled with the good will of God; the perfect blood of the atonement secures this. So, who ever is willing to listen, will hear God speaking to them. But, it must be done with a heart of faith though, blocking out all the noise of the world and even popular religion. Most religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make man dearer to God. But those who know God and are open to His words speaking to us know God tells us to be still not busy and blusterous. Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” If we are chattering on and on we will miss the wonders God desires us to know. Our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silent worship.
One of the best things we can do is to get alone with our Bibles spread open before us. Then we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to our hearts. It will be in those times that the Holy Spirit will open the scriptures up to us in new and wonderful ways. God speaking to us like dear friends or dear children. Then will come the light and life, the ability to see and rest in the embrace of Christ. The Bible will never be a living book to us unless we are convinced that God is still speaking. If we try to live the word of God in a dogmatic way we will find ourselves steeped in legalism, feeling like a failure over and over. Acts 15:5-11 Much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong conception and wrong feelings about the scripture. Many believe that God just poked His head into our reality and laid out His law and salvation and then went back to where ever He was before. This has left many with the notion that the Bible is a record of what God said for that brief time when He showed up here.
If this is what many believe then how could they think or believe that God has a plan for their lives now. Why would anyone with this perspective even want to know about God other than to use His word as a weapon to beat others up with it? The fact is that God has spoken from the very conception of creation and He still speaks today to any and all who will listen. It is in the nature of God to speak, to reveal His will. The second Person of the Trinity is even called the Word of God. He is the Word come to life, to give life through the Spirit. He had the last word on the matter of salvation; Heb. 1:1–2 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Bible is the outcome of God’s continuous speech, the infallible declaration of His mind for us, put into words we can understand. It is a book that is still speaking to the hearts of those who are willing and open to listen.
If we want to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, pursuing our relationship with Him, we must open our Bibles expecting to hear Him speak to us. Don’t think we can just pick it up here and there at our convenience that will not work. It must be a continuous habit of opening and waiting to hear the voice, the word of the living God speak to us here and now for the here and now, as He has spoken to the saints of the past and continues to speak to the saints of this day. Are we listening? Benediction: Hebrews 3:14–15 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
