Meditations in the Time of the Virus

The Simple Word 

Look inside. Look deep inside and ask a question. In your inner life, as you think through things; or as you decide what it is you want; or as you reflect on the things that you have been through -- how do you do that? How do you think back over your memories or picture what you want to see in the future? The simple answer is "words." That is the stuff of the inner life. It is how you reflect on the world and how you reflect on you.

It should not be a surprise that the life of the soul is so completely bound up in words and the word inside us. After all that is how God created the world, by His Word: "Let there be light"; "Let the earth bring forth"; Let us make man in Our image". (Genesis 1:3, 11, 24)

God spoke His word over Adam and Eve. He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it ..." (Genesis 1:28) When Adam and Eve fell into sin, what they did was turn away from the Word of God, listening to, "Has God indeed said ...?" (Genesis 3:1) When God began to call them back, He did that through speaking the promise about "the seed of the woman," Jesus. (Genesis 3:15) The Gospel of John describes Jesus' birth as, "The Word became flesh ..." (John 1:14) Jesus is the living, breathing, walking around sermon of God the Father, a sermon with skin.

It is the simple Word. God has said that "whoever believes in [Jesus] should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) God has said that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners". (1 Timothy 1:15) And God has said, "The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." (John 10:11)

It is the simple Word, straightforward, unadorned by clever speech or lofty wisdom. (1 Corinthians 2:1-4) In that simple word God speaks straight to our hearts. He tells us of the Savior and promises forgiveness and life.

Because it is the simple Word, we are called to simply believe it. That is the pattern all the way through history. From Adam and Eve who believed God's promise of "the Seed of the Woman", Jesus; to Abraham who "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3, Genesis 15:6); to David who "also speaks of the blessing"; to Paul who said, "by grace you have been saved through faith ..." (Ephesians 2:8); to Martin Luther who thrilled at salvation "by faith apart from works of the law." (Romans 3:28) All of salvation, complete from beginning to end, comes to us through the Word, because God has put all of His blessings in the Word.

And the Word of God is "self-authenticating." That means, it proves itself to the soul that it takes hold of. It causes faith; actually brings into the soul the belief in God who spoke it.

The Word of God is life-giving, sin-forgiving, faith-creating, life-renewing, faith-restoring, blessing-bringing, and is eternal in its blessings. Jesus said, "Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall." (Matthew 7:24-25)

Lord Jesus, fill my soul with Your words. Speak them into my heart day after day, and by Your Spirit sustain my faith each day. Fill my thoughts with the promises You have brought into the world; those promises You have fulfilled in Your own flesh, living, suffering, and rising for me. Hold Your promises before me, bound together with the promise that You will return with eternal life for all Your people. Amen.

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