Psalm 119:103
“How sweet are your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth.”
“The unfolding of your words gives light,
it gives understanding to the simple.” v130
“All your words are true;
All your righteous laws are eternal.” v160
The Word of God, or the words of God have so many wonderful qualities and purposes: sweetness, light, understanding and truth. God deals in words, He is a God who speaks to us. Words, therefore are extremely important. God spoke the word and created the world and everything in it.
Our words are also important. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the encouragement and uplift a kind word can bring. A word in season can be just what is needed to inspire you to do something you didn’t know you could do, or to make you keep going when times are tough. Or to open your eyes to a gift or a quality you didn’t know you had.
And equally we’ve experienced the distress of an unkind word, or unfair comment, or rebuke. Words like this can do a lot of damage, making us give up or make us feel worthless. Negative words that were spoken to us in childhood can have a lasting effect, they can colour your view of yourself for a lifetime, unless challenged at some point.
We need to be aware that our words can be creative or harmful. This applies to our own lives, as well as in the lives of others. We need to be careful of the words we utter, for they can create our reality.
I heard a story of a lady who had a fever for several months, but nothing physical could be found to be wrong with her. When doctors questioned her closely, they found that when she got upset about anything she would say, “that just burns me up”, a phrase she used several times a day. They were not sure whether this could be the reason, but when asked to refrain from using that phrase, within a few weeks her body temperature returned to normal.
Let’s be careful of the words that we speak to ourselves and to others. Let’s create good things!