In awe of the Word

Last night, I was thinking about one of my favorite lines in a worship song from back in 2007: “When You stand, the tall trees and mountains bow. When You speak, the fiercest of oceans is still.”

It’s easy to sing this line and just gloss over it, but when you stop to think about it—wow. 

Let me just say mountains don’t bow down because of Gina, and while I’ve run terrified from the ocean a bunch of times (confession: I’m not a huge fan of water!), no ocean has ever stilled because of me. Believe me, it’s true!

Yet, at simply the word of Jesus, the wind was calm and the sea was still. 

In Mark 4:37-39, we read: “A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.”

Completely calm – at the word of the Lord. 

Do we ever truly stop and grasp the power of God’s word? 

Scripture tells us in Genesis 1 that God spoke all creation into existence.  “God said…” and it was! 

What’s more, Scripture also tells us that all creation is upheld by the word of God’s power. 

Hebrews 1:1-4 says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” (emphasis mine)

Notice: “upholding all things by the word of His power.” But also notice that it was through Jesus that God made the worlds. God spoke—Jesus is the Word. John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  

Yet, Scripture also tell us that when heaven and earth pass away, God’s Word will remain (Matthew 24:35).

What else do we know about the Word? 

Well, in Hebrews 4:12—one of my absolute favorite verses—we read, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

(Side note: I did a blog awhile back on the “pierced” part of this verse – feel free to visit that post here.) 

I really love the Amplified translation: “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.” 

The Word of God is active—now, at this moment. It’s alive—now. It’s full of power—now. It’s effective—now. 

Is it any wonder then, that creation responds to the Word of God? Is it any wonder that the earth melts at His voice? (Psalm 46:6) Is it any wonder that storms cease at his command? (Mark 4:39)

Psalm 29: 3-9 gives us an even broader understanding of the power when God speaks: 

• The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
  The God of glory thunders;
  The Lord is over many waters.
• The voice of the Lord is powerful;
  The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
• The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
  Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
• He makes them also skip like a calf,
  Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
• The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.
• The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
  The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
• The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,
  And strips the forests bare;
  And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

Look at that last verse for a moment—the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth. God’s voice even brings to birth that which is ready to be born!

But yet, in all the power, in all the majesty, this is the same Word that God sends to heal us and rescue us.

Psalm 107:17-20: “Some are fools [made ill] because of the way of their transgressions and are afflicted because of their iniquities. They loathe every kind of food, and they draw near to the gates of death. Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivers them out of their distresses. He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction.” (emphasis mine).

What an amazing God we serve—whose compassions never fail, whose mercies are new every morning, and whose Word brings healing and life.