The Word Is Near You

Psalm 32:3-5 - When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 

Nearly every scripture has something to speak to us. Maybe not so much the "begats" or numbering or some chronicling! I've known for a long time, though, that even what we read one day will have another meaning the next time it is read. There is a message even between the lines and words that we don't know until God reveals them to us.

That is the very power of the truth of His Word. And taken into a heart and meditated on they bring life. His Word will not return void if one takes the time to read and take it in. His words are near you. If you hear His Words being spoken today, listen. If they elicit a move of your heart, respond. You are only a step away from the greatest gift given to man...salvation and forgiveness, which bring spiritual life.

In Deuteronomy 6 God tells His people that ...these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way; when you lie down, and when you rise up. Command may seem like a hard word, but when we are obedient it is an easy yoke. In this context command means to appoint, give charge to, send, as with a messenger, put in order. That definition alone speaks to a message between the lines. God appointed His words and those who hear and understand those words are then appointed to be sent as messengers to speak such words, words of life.

And order! His words bring order to our lives. God does not cause confusion; only the devil does with his deception. Things seem to fall into place nicely if we do God's will and do it His way. We can muck things up. He brings the order.

If our words are focused on the Lord, He tells us it is a sweet incense to Him...a form of worship. So our thoughts and our daily communication with Him is worship.

God truly means what He says all throughout His Word. Imagine the peace in this world if everyone believed in this amazingly awesome God, if everyone acknowledged their need for Him and rather than try to hide their sins (which are not hidden from the One who really matters) but confessed their sins, not to a friend, stranger or even a pastor/priest, but to God Himself that He might forgive them. Imagine. Bones growing old, His hand being heavy on us, vitality gone...all signs of life without God.

Life in Christ is a worldly yoke and burden removed. It is peace in a heart. It is freedom, life, joy, peace, contentment, fearlessness in times of trouble. Are we all there 100% of the time? Not necessarily. But the closer we draw to Him, the more His Words penetrate our hearts, the more we meditate on those words, the more we are at peace.

Meditate on His Word. Listen to the voices that speak them. Act on what you hear. His words are like living water, words that never cause thirst. They are like a garden fountain, a well of flowing water...water that comes from the wells of salvation (Song of Solomon 4:15, Isaiah 12:3). Our hearts can be like a well-watered garden, filled with His words.

Romans 10:8-10 - But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart"  (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.