Walking with the Wise #21: Words of Life

“My son, be attentive to my words;
 

incline your ear to my sayings.

Let them not escape from your sight;

keep them within your heart.

For they are life to those who find them,

and healing to all their flesh.”

—Proverbs 4:20-22

The words of God are words that give life. No other book in history can make that claim. And the Bible is able to give life because it is alive, as the author of Hebrews wrote:

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart”—Hebrews 4:12.

God breathed out His Word to us, as Paul wrote to Timothy:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work”—2 Timothy 3:16-17.

The Greek word for “breathed out” conveys a similar picture to that of God breathing life into Adam. God’s Word is alive—it convicts us of sin, shows us where we have been wrong or in rebellion, and teaches us how to live a life pleasing to God. Those who seek to live their life according to God’s Word will find life and healing, as Solomon reminds us: “For they are life to those who find them,
 and healing to all their flesh” (v. 22).

God’s Word gives life to all who live according to its truth. And it will provide healing to those who have been scarred by the sins of their past. The words of God shower us with grace, enabling us to be cleansed from our sin, and to walk in newness of life as children of God.

Are you living your life according to the truth of God’s word? Are you experiencing new life and healing? If you aren’t, it’s not because God’s Word has failed; it’s because we have misappropriated it.

Trust in the Lord, apply His Word, and be ready to do all it entails. Then prepare yourself to experience the health, life and healing that is promised. Amen.