Monday, January 3, 2011

The Word of God

"Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him" Proverbs 30:5

My youngest daughter, LooLoo, has always been the more strong willed child. She knows what she wants and is quick to cry if she doesn't get her way. Her crying has actually been one of the things I struggle with the most. Since she was born, she's had moments when she will cry just for the sake of crying, and most of those times it's pretty inconsolable. In general though, since she's been getting older, those crying sessions have been much fewer and far between. So when New Years Day came around and she woke up in a crying fit, I was sort of caught off guard.

She came into my room and she didn't want to be held or hugged or kissed. She didn't want her blanket which just about always calms her down. She wouldn't suck her thumb. When I laid my hands on her and started praying over her she just cried even harder. At that point I was kind of out of ideas. So, asking God for direction, he pointed me in the direction of my bible. I did a little "magic bible", asking the Lord to take me to the place He wanted me to read from, and opened it up. I was taken to Ezekiel 3.

Now, I've never read Ezekiel, and the passage starts with, "And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel..." So naturally I asked, 'Lord, are you sure? Have you seen this passage?', but in obedience (or desperation) I just started reading to Loo. And as soon as the words started coming out of my mouth she stopped crying and climbed into my lap. She snuggled with her blanket and sucked her thumb and was calm. I also felt that I was supposed to stop reading when Loo decided to leave the room. Two chapters later, she got up off my lap and walked out.

What have I learned from this experience? The word of God is living and it is powerful. The whole time I was reading, I was reading about plagues and famine and God wiping out his people and only leaving a remnant and death and destruction and wondering, 'What on earth are you teaching me here Lord?!' Then, by the end, it was abundantly clear. It wasn't about what I was reading... God's word, every part of it, every single word from beginning to end is God breathed and has the power to save and transform. Whether I'm reading about life and life abundantly, or death and destruction, it came from the nostrils of the one and only living God and it has power beyond my understanding.

Praise be to God alone!