Has The Word Changed You?

I can’t tell you the exact number of hours or even days I have read God’s Word, not the number of hours I have listened to sermons and teachings from the Word of God, but it’s a lot. I’m not trying to brag, just stating the facts. I’m sure many of you could say the same thing, and depending on when you got saved the number of hours we have had in the Word of God would be astronomical. I got saved in the winter of 1969 so for me that would be about 50 years. As I was seeking the Lord this morning the question hit me, “Has The Word Changed You Much?

When I consider the amount of years, the number of days and hours, I am convinced the word has “NOT” changed me as much as I would like nor as much as God would like. Bummer!

It’s easy to give yourself a pass and say yes to being changed by the Word, but I am one who is always asking questions of my own soul as to wether my fruit measures up to the question. I don’t live the life I once lived, but then again my life doesn’t always reflect biblical principles, like loving my neighbor, let alone loving my enemies. I love my neighbor but do I love them like Jesus would love them?

The word of God is meant to be a spotlight on our souls as to how we measure up to God’s purpose for our lives. The word is not meant to condemn us but encourage us. However, if we try to justify our lives by the Word of God all of us will come up short. Here is an example to clarify what I’m saying: I have been involved with building things with wood most of my life. I started working on a housing development when I was 18 in California. My area of focus and duties was in framing houses. Now consider if I didn’t like a tape measure and just tried to “Eyeball” the length of each piece of wood. No matter how good my eyesight was the house would look like a jumbled mess. Take the same job and use a tape measure for each cut of wood and the house will be square. I don’t look at the tape measure as a task master but actually as a comfort, because I know it helps me accomplish the plans I have for building a good house that others will appreciate.

The book of Psalms is a good “tape measure” for evaluating how we are doing biblically and how we can correct our attitudes and behavior. Psalms 107 is a case in point. The author is unknown, though much of the book of psalms is written by King David. The writer starts this psalm with a good rule of thumb for all of us in living a biblical Christian life.

Psalms 107:1-2

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.

First and foremost we should be a grateful people who express our thanks to God because he is good. When I was young I thought God, if he existed at all, was cruel and the cause of all my problems growing up. When I really looked at who God is I discovered God was not evil but good and that goodness led me to surrender to the Lordship of Christ.

Romans 2:4

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 

Secondly, the psalmist challenges us to tell God about our troubles. Why? Because he cares about our lives, and because telling God about our struggles creates a pathway of relationship in which we and God grow closer and more intimate. When we build that relationship deeper he is able to move on our behalf in greater ways. That’s called progress and God loves when we do this intentionally.

Psalms 107:6

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.

Thirdly, the psalmist gives us a picture of hope. When we approach God we need to believe he cares and wants to be involved. He wants to lead us to victory, not defeat. The writer uses the word “Soul” because it encompasses the whole man not just one aspect, like our emotions or just our logic and reason. Few Christians today understand the nature of their souls, let alone engage their whole soul in the pursuit of God. Instead they are just emotional followers or intellectual followers. God wants the whole you, not just a part of you.

Psalms 107:9

For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.

Fourth, he says that God “Satisfies” the thirsty and the hungry. Many believers find it hard to believe that God can satisfy them better than any human being or thing, and look towards other people or stuff to bring satisfaction. God is the only one who can truly satisfy the center of our soul. Any attempt to fill it with people or stuff will, in the end, leave us wanting. We are made with what I call a “God Shaped Hole” in our souls that only he can fill.

I started this article by asking if the Word of God has changed you. I ask myself this question regularly. Not because I doubt my love for God, but because I know human nature. Left to ourselves we can get off track easily. In the middle of Psalm 107 the psalmist makes this bold and encouraging statement: He says when we cry out to the Lord he hears us. God saves us when we trust him to save us and not ourselves. Many believers claim the name of Jesus, yet really rely on themselves more than God. How sad when God offers to be our refuge and high tower in time of trouble.

Psalms 107:19-20

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

Did you get the point he is making? God’s Word healed them. God’s word has the power to implant the truth of God’s character and intentions into our soul. It is there where healing starts. The apostle John said that God is love, that at his core love is the center.

1 John 4:8-9

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 

Friends, the Word of God is meant to open our souls so that we would be healed. Let the Word of God fill you with understanding about who God is. Let the Word of God heal you today.

Questions:

1) Do you find healthy fruit from being in the Word? If not ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.

2) Do you want to love God more deeply? Read the Word daily with the Holy Spirit’s help

Pastor Dale.