Life-Giving Word
“He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts.”
Today’s Text: Psalm 104:10-23 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
The interdependent process of how everything lives is, again, mind-blowing, even supernatural. If we keep asking the question of how that process works the way it does and why it even works, at some point, the only conclusion we can draw is that the Creator made it so according to His will.
I mean, why is food even enjoyable? Of course, the Darwinists would shat that it is because we need food to live. If we do not eat, we die.
But eventually, even food does not keep us alive. And that fact may make us realize that “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3). God and God alone is the ultimate reason that any of us live.
And the word of God (“every word that comes from the mouth of God”) explains to us God’s purpose for bringing us into this world: for the sake of His glory.
As simple as that “Sunday school” answer is, living it out is far from easy. On reason why living it out is far from easy is that Christians, generally speaking, are biblically illiterate.
I am convinced that one of the highest priorities for Satan is to make the people of God biblically illiterate. By tricking Christians into becoming biblically illiterate, they are starved of the spiritual nutrition they need to truly live—to live according to the purposes of God for the sake of His glory.
Another reason that living according to the word of God is not easy is simply because so many people around us oppose living for the purposes of God. That is exactly what Jesus was talking about when He said,
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
— Matthew 10:34
That “sword” is the word of God. That is why the author of Hebrews says,
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
— Hebrews 4:12
And that is why it says of Jesus in the Book of Revelation,
Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
— Revelation 19:15
What that means is that there are basically two types of people in this world—those who seek to truly live according to “every word that comes from the mouth of God” and those who just don’t think it’s that important.
I will confess that I do not always truly live according to “every word that comes from the mouth of God,” but I do seek to, because I know deep down that I live only because the Father wills it.
Father, You are the Maker and creator of heaven and earth, the Giver of life, the Redeemer of our souls. Forgive me when I do not live my life for Your glory. Forgive us all when we are deceived by the evil one. Give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand so that we might stand on faith with Christ in our hearts yielding the sword of Your Spirit, the word of life. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
