Chapter 1: The Power of the Word

The subject of what sustains a person in the difficult hour has long fascinated me. Because somehow I think that if we can discover what sustains a person when everything is gone, then perhaps we discover the pillars that fortify our lives.  And so often what we discover when we read the journals of those who have endured difficult trials is that the sustaining factor is the Word of God.  And should we be surprised?  He says in Psalm 119 that His Word is a “lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  We appreciate the light most when it is dark.

I remember walking across an active lava field after having walked out to the flow.  I was returning at night when my flashlight went out.  Thankfully there was a small light on my keychain that was used to find your ignition.  Using the tiny light, I was able to safely find my way the two miles back to my car.  That light, even though small, was precious.  We most appreciate light when it is dark.  When you know you have light, fear is cast aside.

God’s word is even richer.  It is a deep source of water that keeps that which is planted  in the place of fruitfulness.  Psalms 1 states that

“He who meditates on His Word day and night will be like a tree planted by

streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither.  Whatever he does, prospers” (Ps 1:3).

Jeremiah restates this in his writing:

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

There is ‘no fear when the heat comes, no worries when drought prevails.’   Trusting His Word is the banishment of fear and worry.  As the Psalmist says,

            “Great peace have those who love your law”(Ps 119:165)

Life can flourish for those who love and live His Word, no matter the season of the soul.   Whether we’re in a time like Joseph who has been trafficked and wrongly imprisoned or in a season of influence and abundance like King Solomon, the dark, the heat and drought don’t affect fruitfulness when the roots run deep in His Word.

And life can be fruitful not only for an individual life but also on national levels.  Consider the nation of Norway.   A hundred years ago it was one of the poorest nations in the world.  Today it is one of the richest per capita and consistently ranks at the top of the Human Development Index due to its healthcare, education, low poverty rate, etc....  How did this happen?  It happened when a farmer named Hans Nielsen Hauge came to the Lord and taught the whole nation how to apply the Word to all of life—business, arts, education, etc…  He launched more than 1000 home groups that took the Word to heart and built their lives upon it.  It changed a nation’s history.

Or consider the nation of Korea.  The whole country was in a bitter battle in the 1960’s.  At the end of the war it was beaten down, poor and had been split into two.  South Korea began to embrace the Word of God, rising early in the morning to spend long hours in prayer and study of His Word.    In one generation South Korea went from post-war trauma to being a developed nation and a technological leader that we know today (ever heard of Samsung, Hyundai Motors, or LG Electronics?).

Where His Word is heard, understood and applied, righteous change happens.   It doesn’t mean there are no hardships, that external circumstances will change, or that one will somehow become wealthy, but change does happen based on the fruit-filled, transforming nature of the Word.  His Word is our sustenance.

Jesus said it this way,

            “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the

            mouth of God” (Mt 4:4)

God’s plan and purpose has always been that our lives would be fruitful.   For those that abide in him there will be a bearing of “much fruit.”  My desire is that through memorizing and meditating on His Word, your life and mine will become marked with thia increased fruitfulness of those who live according to His Word.