Just Words?

"The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed." 

Isaiah 50:4

I am able to recount many times through the years when I have heard someone say, “They are just words. They mean nothing!” or, “You think that just by saying these words everything is going to be okay?”

I know what they mean as they utter “those are just words” and their faces are lined with hurt, anger, disappointment or possibly derision.  All of us have been at a point somewhere along the way when we have needed more than words because the past history in which they had been used had cheapened them to the point of being valueless.

Paul asked the question, “Who has believed the news we bring or the story we tell” and many times after delivering God’s Word, I wonder if the listeners perceived that what they had received was indeed His Word.  Or, did they walk away thinking those are “just words.”  Sometimes we have so cheapened our words that it causes a “Whatever” response to utterances which should never be dismissed with such ease. 

Being a pastor, my world has pretty much revolved around life-giving words.  In the beginning days of my ministry the power of words and my lack of ability in speaking really scared me.  I knew that people could possibly be hanging on to my words, which was okay.  I just didn’t want them to be hung or even hung up by my words!  That’s about the time that Isaiah 50:4 really registered with me. It was like God was saying to me, “I will be with you to help bring about your purpose for life. I will teach you to speak for me!”

Since that time, I have learned and have often rehearsed out loud the fact that our words are used to ease our pain and increase our joy.  Through our words the weary are sustained and the powerful work of transformation is given shape, focus and clarity.  Friends, the words we use are not weak and impotent, they are in fact powerful, quick, sharp and unerring in their ability to make glad the heart.

Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life..”   So, don’t leave home without them, choose them wisely and please don’t underestimate their ability to powerfully work in the heart and mind of those who have had their ear awakened to hear!