THE CENTRALITY OF THE WORD OF GOD Now we have come to the crux of the matter: the word of God is absolutely necessary in an economy of faith – an economy where chief assets and benefits are unseen, unsensed, and inaccessible to the physical apparatus of man. God has "magnified His word above all His name" (Psa. 138:2) because man has no other way of apprehending eternal things. If God does not speak, man will not know. If God does not articulate clear and authentic words concerning heavenly realities, man will have no bona fide concepts of those things. Tomorrow:
"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for THOU HAST MAGNIFIED THY WORD ABOVE ALL THY NAME." (Psa 138:2) ". . . for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name!" (Amplified Bible)
Devotion 13 of 30
There is life in God's kingdom, and that life is sustained by the word of God. This is a higher life which is maintained by a loftier resource. "Man shall not live by bread alone," our Lord proclaimed, "but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).
Man's life, therefore, consists of more than physical or external matters. Life sustained by mere "bread" actually is inferior, as well as "temporal" (2 Cor. 4:18). The life that is supported by the word of God is that of spiritual knowledge of, and in relation to, Him. In Christ we are "alive unto God" (Rom. 6:11), and it is that life which requires "every word of God for" its sustenance. Without His Word that life cannot be maintained. The Word is to spiritual life what the tree of life was to Adam and Eve. The difference is that after sin entered the world, they were forbidden to eat of that tree, and now we are commanded to ingest God's word.
RESPONSE INTEGRAL TO LIFE
An individual is only alive to the degree of his responsiveness to his environment. When, for instance, our earthly bodies totally cease to respond to earth's environment, we are dead. If we are unable to appropriate natural resources through our bodily functions, we simply are no longer alive.
The same principle prevails in the kingdom of God. For life – eternal life – to be had, there must be reciprocity; proper response to Divine availabilities. God's love, mercy, grace, guidance, and person, will yield no spiritual benefit unless they are "received" – brought into our persons by faith. Faith is the faculty for appropriation, the word of God is the vehicle through which Divine resources are made available. The order of progression here is this: 1. Reality, 2. Word, 3. Appropriation. There can be no Divine word unless there is reality, and there can be no appropriation without that word! "Man . . . shall live by every word of God."
REPRESENTATION BY THE WORD
The word of God is not merely a legal code; it is the articulation of a whole body of reality. Our association with that reality determines whether or not we are alive unto God. Further, our participation in that reality is determined by our perception and reception of the word of God. We are speaking of "the word of the kingdom" (Matt. 13:19-23); the "scriptures" (Rom. 16:26); the "holy scriptures" (Rom. 1:2), etc. The word of God nourishes our faith, which is the "evidence of things not seen." It confirms to our hearts the presence of sustaining reality. Take away the word of God, and faith has no food, no resource, no means of support.
It ought to be apparent that when religion makes human wisdom its primary source, minimizing the Word of God, a falling away has occurred. When things like entertainment, and a procedural approach to ordering one's life, become prominent, Christ is invariably relegated to the back seat. Spiritual life simply cannot be sustained by methodologies, routines, procedures, and other things conceived by men. None of those things can foster faith – not a single one of them. It really makes no difference what the plans of men claim to be able to do, they do not have God's power in them.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for revealing how the faith You give is sustained.