God whose words are flawless
Psa
12:6 the
words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of
clay,
purified
seven times
In
this Psalm, in our verse today, we find something that seems so obvious
and yet is something that few of us really believe. God is a God of
communication. The Bible is all about God communicating. Verbal communication,
communication with content, is a feature of humanity because we are
made in God's image (Gen 1:26,27) and the Trinity communicates between
themselves, or God communicates with Himself if you prefer that. (Even
in our minds we talk to ourselves).
Even
to bring the world into being the Lord spoke a word and it was (Gen
1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26), and then He spoke to man and gave instructions
(Gen 1:28-30, 2:16,17). Even in bringing Eve into being, God
spoke about it first (Gen 2:18). Thereafter we find records of God
communicating with men of His choosing – after the Fall to Adam and
Eve (3:9-19), subsequently to Cain (Gen 4:6-15), then in respect of
the Flood and Noah (Gen 6:7 on), then to Abram (Gen 12:1 on), etc.
When
John refers to Jesus, he initially calls him “The Word” (Jn 1), a
means of communication. The writer to the Hebrews starts his letter-book
by, “In the past God spoke to our
forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son”
(Heb 1:1,2). Here is a wonderful truth – God speaks to His people.
Today
God speaks to us through His word, the Scriptures (2 Tim 3:16,17)
and directly by His Holy Spirit (e.g. Jn 14:26,
16:13). Why
is it therefore that some of us are surprised at this thought and
fear the thought of God speaking to us? Is it perhaps that we're not
sure about His nature? Have you ever read C.S.Lewis's “The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe”? If you have, you may remember the talk about
Aslan the Lion, who Lewis uses to portray Jesus. One of the children,
Lucy, asks, “Is he safe?” to which the reply is given, “Safe? Who
said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's
the King, I tell you.” Some of us have the same fears as Lucy. We
fear the Lord in the same way she feared Aslan – but, of course, that
was before she knew him. She had yet to meet him and know that he
was ‘good'. Everything about the Lord is good. You can be safe with
Him. You can trust Him. Indeed when it comes to all that he says,
you can trust it, because it is good and right – it is flawless!
When
we talk about a diamond that is ‘flawless' we mean it is completely
without defect of any kind, there is absolutely nothing wrong with
it. Now do we realize that the same is true of all that the Lord says?
He makes no mistakes. He is totally truthful and therefore never lies.
He never distorts the truth. In fact, says David, God's words are
like the most purified metals. Imagine the purifying process, taking
out all the impurities from silver. Imagine the process being repeated
and repeated until eventually there is absolutely nothing more of
impurity to be removed, and it is now totally pure silver. That is
what God's words are like. There is nothing, but nothing, that is
impure about them. They are perfect and they can be utterly trusted.
So, if the Lord says He will protect the weak, He will! God never
says anything that He will not do. If He's said it, He will do it!
You can utterly rely on what He's said. Now this is vitally important
to understand as we read God's word. We can believe it, we can trust
it, and we can rely upon it. Remember, what God says, He will do.
If it's conditional, remember, we may have a part to play.
Response:
Affirm today your total trust in God's word. Ask Him to help
you appreciate the wonder of it more and more, this flawless word
of God.