The Jericho Road

Not able to sleep much through the night. As I think about the work of God, the work of his church, of all there is to do and all that is being done, I’m impressed with how important it is for each of us to clearly hear and obey his Word. It is God who must direct the work of saving humanity and for that to happen, we must be attentive to every word he has for us. How can we say we are guided by God if we are not open to what he is saying? 

More and more the words of Jesus are pressing on my mind, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Matthew 4.4

All that Scripture defines as true life, the true life of man, the definition of what it means to be human, the very intent of and knowledge of God…all this comes to us through his living Word. God is the God who speaks. He is known by us through his speaking to us. And as we come to know him we know the meaning of our own lives, for the One who speaks to us is our Maker and our Redeemer. 

It is the Word of God that forms us and reforms us. Once made in his image, then deformed by sin, God is acting now in the world to reform all who long to be what he first intended. To do this our minds must be changed, we must be turned in a new direction, our values must be his values, our ways his ways. And this is accomplished for us and in us when we willingly receive his Word into our hearts.

What is this Word of God? It is the word that has come to us through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. It is the Word made flesh that “dwelt among us”, Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, as revealed in those Scriptures. It is the Word spoken to and passed on through his witnesses, the apostles of Christ. God has spoken to men through men; that word, that revelation has been recorded for us so that we might know and do the will of God.

In this Word is all the creative and redemptive power of God for our salvation. If we will hear him and follow his teaching we will be led all the way through this wilderness to the land beyond, we will be led into the heaven of eternal life with God.  

Nothing will be more important for me today than to read his word, to listen for his voice, to study his teachings, so that I might know my duty as a servant of Christ. What else do I have worth doing today other than serve Christ? Why should I feel safe in going my own way, in following my own plans, why should I think to live as if God has not spoken to me concerning all that matters in my life? If God has spoken, if I believe that, then what greater thing do I have to consider?

Nothing in life compares with or is greater than the will of God, for he is life itself. To know and do his will is life. Such a life is ours through his Word. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God….In him was life, and the life was the light of men” John 1.1,2,4