NURTURING YO U R FA I T H :
Spoken
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elcome to this Nurturing Your Faith Bible study on the power of spoken words. With your Bible and journal at the ready, begin reading below. After reading the commentary and studying the Word, you’ll be prompted to watch an application video online (but wait to access it until you are prompted to watch it). May God bless your study!
I N T R O D U C T I O N … The Power of Words. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!” Do you remember this saying? Maybe you remember saying it to classmates on the school playground after they said something to you, and you wanted to project strength in the face of pain. Even as you said it; even as we read it now, we know that it’s … just … not … true. Words can hurt us, can’t they? Words can help us, too. Words can shape our perceptions, our actions; they can start revolutions and inspire fights for justice. Words can create and redeem. There is great power in the spoken word. Consider how spoken words can shape us. For instance, what impact have spoken words had on your relationships? For some of us, our relationship could have been much different with a child, parent, or spouse had we heard, “I’m sorry,” or “I’m proud of you,” or “I forgive you,” or “I love you.” Or had we said them ourselves … out loud. In some situations, spoken words could have made a world of difference. Words are not just words, particularly when they are spoken. Think about it: Why do we, in the Christian tradition, say out loud, in front of many witnesses, “I _____ take you _____ to be my lawfully wedded _____”? Because out loud matters. And when are they officially husband and wife? When the pastor says it out loud. Spoken words have power to shape relationships. Spoken words have power to shape nations. Three examples:
Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” oration in 1775 in Virginia, on the eve of the American Revolution, was the most influential speech in inspiring the war of independence against Britain. “I know not what course others may take,” Henry roared, “but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Given in 1863 at the dedication of the Union Cemetery at the Gettysburg Battlefield, Abraham Lincoln’s two-minute remarks changed the meaning of the war and subsequently of American history, particularly regarding human equality and freedom. Lincoln insisted that the Declaration of Independence had founded a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against the injustices being fought against during the Civil Rights Movement. King’s voice resounded throughout the nation from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial: “With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.” Spoken words have shaped our relationships. Spoken words have shaped our nation. Spoken words have power. It seems this has been true since the beginning. After all, the creation of the world began with spoken words. …
L E A R N I N G F R O M T H E W O R D … First, read Genesis 1. Words created the world. Okay, so God created the world, yes. But, how did He choose to create? As a result of what act did the lights and waters and people come into existence? You got it: spoken words. He could have fashioned it, wordless, like a silent sculptor, or painter, or carpenter. But He didn’t; He spoke words. And the words resulted in a series of “and it was so” cataclysmic moments. Spoken words … light! Spoken words … waters! Spoken words … people! This is noteworthy: spoken words are the medium by which His divine plan exploded into material existence. continued on next page
Read on in the Old Testament to find that God’s voice plays a primary role in shaping the Israelites’ theology of God as Creator and King. One example, Psalm 29, records King David’s exhortation: “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (v. 2). In response to what attribute should we worship the Lord? His voice. He writes, the voice of the Lord: thunders (3), is powerful (4a), is majestic (4b), breaks cedars of Lebanon (5), strikes with flashes of lightning (7), shakes the desert (8), strips the forest bare (9).
REFLECTION This voice, QUESTION David reminds us, is the voice Where else in the Old of the Lord, Testament is the power of the “who sits voice of the Lord manifested? enthroned as King forever” (v. 10). The power of God manifests via His voice, and consequently His people worship Him both as the One who created everything and as the One who sits enthroned over His creation. He spoke and He created; He is Creator. He speaks and rules over His creation; He is King. The Lutheran Layman Spring 2021 | 9
