God's word is life

Dabar is the Hebrew word for WORD. For the Hebrews this dabar was a dynamic expression, perhaps best described as a ‘word-event’. It is better understood in the context of the first verses of the book of Genesis, where the writer has the LORD say Let there be light: and there was light (Genesis 1:3). Through the very utterance of those words, the thing that is spoken is made so. And so it was for the next 5 days. The WORD that emanates from God becomes what God intends should be.

The prophet Isaiah (55:10 – 11) wrote – so beautifully: Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.

This enlivened WORD of God continues into the second Testament, where Jesus becomes the incarnate, enfleshed, WORD. The Logos.

We, too, have to take what comes from our own mouths deadly seriously. We ought be accountable for and responsible for what we say. You and I know when our words have had the impact we are seeking. We say such things as – ‘I really hit the mark’, ‘I really spoke my mind’, ‘I told him like it is’. We know that our words can not only build up and give praise, but all too easily they can diminish and destroy. On the contrary, if we would only listen as well as we speak, then we would really hear what people are saying to us.

Explaining why he uses parables, Jesus tells his disciples, ‘Because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’

Our challenge, then, is to be hearers of God’s WORD, and to take that dynamic, living WORD and live it out in our lives, to become people of compassion, of justice, of hope, of peace. We must breathe out this WORD and thus help transform our world. And it starts with me. It starts with my ears. It starts with listening.