Every time any of my children’s birthday approaches they know that they will get one thing from the top of their wish list.
They have my word as a certainty for that, nothing else. They can’t see the gift beforehand, they can’t check my cupboards to glimpse if I have purchased it or not, just holding on to my word until that day arrives.
Our words are very important. Our words ”manage the world” says the psalmist in today’s devotion. Our families, friendships and all connections are build based on the words spoken or unspoken. For the words give us a window into someone’s heart which helps us to make up our minds either to trust ourselves to them or not.
“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.
Maya Angelou.
We can all confess that we haven’t been able to keep our word every single time we give it, and also that we have been disappointed by others doing the same.
’All friends I depended on gone’ says the psalmist.
I know that most of us mean well, but delivering to our words is difficult.
Our words can be flattering (telling people what they want to hear) polluted with our own intentions and motives, unclear and empty.
But, God’s word on the other side is like pure like silver (see verse 6), refined and perfect, holy and gracious, trustworthy and unflappable.
We can rely on that!
That Word, Scripture says is Jesus and he always keeps his promises. We can hold on to him, because if we hold on to people’s words as our ultimate source we will be let down, if we hold on to our assets ( money can speak my friend a language of security and fame) we will soon find out that holding into that is like trying to grasp oil with our hands. If we depend on our health and beauty we soon learn that none of that is durable. And lastly if we depend on ourselves we soon comprehend the impossibility of that task, we sure make many promises to ourselves that have been proven hard to deliver -only yesterday I promised myself to not have sugar for one day… I totally forgot that as soon as I saw the cookies my girls had freshly baked
God’s word is very different from ours, we can hold on to that always.
It’s true that we need to trust people, for without trust there are no real relationships. We need to give our word to people also for without our word there is no accountability and responsibility for our actions, but let us hold on to the one who can carry us all the way through as we do it, Jesus the Living Word. For his Promises are Yes and Amen.