God sent His Word—by speaking it—into the earth. He initiated its delivery to this globe, and He used and is using holy men and women of God to have it delivered[1] through preaching.[2] This preaching, or proclamation and declaration, of His Word falls like precipitation upon the people of this earth, more specifically, you and me.
The Bible has other analogies to help us understand who we are in the original analogy of Isaiah chapter 55, verse 10. Consider with me various verses to get a feel of how we might perceive ourselves as God rains down His Word into our lives.
In certain verses people are seen as trees,[3] wives are as fruitful vines,[4] and children as olive plants.[5] The Psalmist called himself a green olive tree in the house of the Lord. In general, we are recognized as the planting of the Lord.[6] In a very real way, at least in this life, we have our natural, human roots in this earth. God has planted us here.
When Jesus explained the parable of the tares,[7] He borrowed terms from the practice of crop farming. The very fact that He mentioned the harvest of souls at the end of the age indicates that He associated people with plants in a farmer’s field. People are either tares (weeds) that will be gathered and burned, or they are plants from good seeds that “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”[8] The bottom line here is that you and I are likened to plants.
Even Jesus called Himself a vine and said we are the branches.[9]
With this concept established that we are seen as the planting of the Lord, let’s go a little further. God has rained His Word on the earth over the millennia, sending it to men and women everywhere. At one point, He focused on precipitating His Word upon Israel,[10] a people He had set apart as a channel for His Word. That Word would eventually manifest in the sending of His Son[11] who would die for the sins of mankind.[12] We understand that His plan was intended from early on to be inclusive of both Jew and Gentile,[13] which would include the entire world population. Even His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is called the Word,[14] sent to dwell among us.
As plantings of the Lord, God has been merciful to rain down upon us the precipitation we need to grow and become fruitful on this earth. We drink in the Word of God like a plant would drink in the water from the soil. We fill ourselves with it to the point that we overflow with its reality. We drink it in daily and regularly. We read it. We familiarize ourselves with it. We memorize it. We meditate on it. We talk to others about it.
Don’t we?
Perhaps this is the first breakdown as we compare ourselves to the plant world. The plant world drinks in water all the time. As long as room exists inside the plant and as long as water is present in the soil, it continually drinks and absorbs the water into itself.
We should take special note here.
If we are likened by the Scriptures to plants, then we, too, are to drink in the water at the highest level of absorbency. We take great comfort and encouragement in the potency of God’s Word, to be sure. But personal intake of God’s Word is one of the initial steps to determining how much of God’s promise and power becomes available to our personal experience. Therefore, we must be proactively and personally engaged with the Word of God. We have a Biblical mandate to do so.[15] And it should be a personal mandate as well, because the absorbing of His Word has everything to do with both our survival and our fruitfulness.
On a campus where I spent a few years, there are several small trees called crape myrtles.[16] During the heat of summer and in the middle of the day, I have stood under those trees and witnessed a strange event. If you stand under the tree, you will experience very small water droplets falling down upon you. The transpiration process is so fast and furious on a hot summer day that the exit of the water vapor from the leaves results in immediate condensation of the vapor into a liquid which falls to the ground. The level of absorbency is always high in plants, but this particular tree gives testimony that the quantity and speed of absorbency and the subsequent release of the water can also be very fast. It is an encouraging sight to behold.
Survivalists understand this transpiration process. In the middle of the wild, they will wrap clear plastic around a portion of leafy branches and generate as much as two quarts of water daily for drinking. The water vapor escapes the leaves but condenses on the plastic as a liquid. Then they extract the accumulated water by cutting a small slit in the plastic for depositing it in one’s mouth or a container.
We cannot assume that, just because we hear sermons at church, on TV, on the Internet, or via other media, we are filling ourselves with the Word of God. Yes, we should keep using all the media available to keep the Word flowing, and we should be under good teaching in a Bible-based church.[17] Also, however, we need high levels of personal discipline that call for daily reading of the Scriptures[18] and singing songs filled with Bible verses[19] and Bible concepts. And don’t forget the memorization.
Deuteronomy says that the words of God are to be in our heart[20] and then tells how they are to be delivered to our family members. We are to talk about the Word of God at four different times: when we are sitting, when we are walking, when we lie down, and when we rise up. This would be no small commitment. But then God’s Word has made no small impact on mankind and mankind’s history and has promise of restoring those who call on its saving power.[21]
Joshua[22] and Psalms[23] call for a “day and night” commitment to the Word of God with the promise of success and prosperity when we do so. David understood that hiding God’s Word in a human heart actually empowers us toward righteous behavior that “we might not sin against God.”[24] What might it really mean to have the Word of God dwelling richly in our hearts, as Paul admonished the Colossians?[25]
The writer of Hebrews talks about something that is alive and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, which can pierce to divide soul and spirit and can discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.[26] That, of course, is the Word of God.
Imagine something so sharp it can divide soul from spirit. I think I know academically the difference between soul and spirit, but don’t ask me to literally divide them. No academician is that sharp.
I have tried through the years to evaluate and judge my thoughts and my intents, but nothing is as penetrating as God’s Word; for while I am reading it, its Author will use its words to read me.
Jesus prayed that God would sanctify His disciples through the truth and then said what that truth was: God’s Word.[27] The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah’s leadership also included a fresh commitment to rebuilding the Word of God into the people and into the culture through a constant review and reading of the Scriptures, evaluating themselves according to its directives.[28]
Though our born-again identity in Christ is most definitely connected to the work of the Holy Spirit,[29] Peter felt inspired by the same Holy Spirit to say that this born-again identity comes by the incorruptible seed of God’s Word.[30] Paul told the Ephesians about six pieces of armor to use for spiritual warfare. The only offensive piece included was the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.[31]
How much should we study and read and meditate on the Scripture?
Peter said to do it until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart.[32] How long will that take? Obviously, it necessitates a lifetime commitment to the Holy Spirit, who authored the book called the Word of God.[33] And He is faithful to make its truth dawn upon us more and more as we give ourselves to its discovery.
However, there is a massive difference between the accumulation of Biblical knowledge and the absorption of God’s Word. The latter is dependent on God’s Spirit quickening and assimilating it deep into our lives.
On a mental level the Word of God should be visited with such regularity and repetition that not only is there a large degree of familiarity with its content but also an ever-increasing amount of verses given to memory. But don’t get stuck at an academic level. Knowledge by itself contributes to arrogance.[34] Depend on the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus to enlighten you.[35] This causes the Word of God to become a transforming power within you. What can eventually develop in all of us is a life message that is more and more congruent with Scripture and a light that shines to brighten the path we walk.[36]
God is not withholding the wisdom of His Word,[37] but it would not be appropriate, nor, in my opinion, would it be safe, for something as powerful as the Word of God to be revealed to us by God in one fell swoop. It would either make us the most arrogant humans on the planet, and no one could tolerate us, or it would literally destroy us by virtue of its sheer power mixing with our human imperfections. Instead, God has mercifully chosen to give us over to spiritual formation and process where He adds to us little by little, developing growth and wisdom over time. This results in maturity acquired through discipleship.[38]
Our priority is to be stewards of both the book called God’s Word and of the time we have on this side of heaven to commit ourselves to its Holy Spirit inspired absorption—including its mandates, its principles, its wisdom, and its purposes.
Yes, this accomplishment will take empowerment from God, otherwise known as God’s grace. And guess where one learns about that? You got it. God’s Word—your Bible.
[1] 2 Peter 1:20-21
[2] Mark 16:15
[3] Psalm 1:3: Psalm 52:8
[4] Psalm 128:3a
[5] Psalm 128:3b
[6] Isaiah 60:21; 61:3
[7] Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
[8] Matthew 13:43
[9] John 15:5
[10] Zechariah 2:8
[11] Romans 9:5
[12] 1 Corinthians 15:3
[13] Genesis 12:3; Romans 4:13; Acts 10:34-35
[14] John 1:1, 14
[15] Matthew 4:4
[16] Crape Myrtle is the most common spelling. Crepe Myrtle is also acceptable mostly because the flowers can resemble crepe paper.
[17] Hebrews 10:25
[18] 2 Timothy 3:14-17
[19] Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16
[20] Deuteronomy 6:6-9
[21] Romans 1:16
[22] Joshua 1:8
[23] Psalm 1:1-3
[24] Psalm 119:11
[25] Colossians 3:16
[26] Hebrews 4:12
[27] John 17:17
[28] Nehemiah 8:1-12
[29] John 3:1-8
[30] 1 Peter 1:23
[31] Ephesians 6:17
[32] 2 Peter 1:16-21
[33] 2 Timothy 3:16
[34] 1 Corinthians 8:1
[35] Ephesians 1:17-21; I consider this my number one prayer.
[36] Psalm 119:105
[37] Proverbs 2:6-7
[38] Matthew 28:19-20
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