THE POWER IN GOD'S WORD

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”
Deuteronomy 6:11

Somehow, to me, this has always meant that I should not swear using God’s name. But now I think it means more than that. When I am angry enough to say ‘God damn you’, I really don’t mean for God to do that. I am just expressing my anger. But my words should be true. When I say God heal you, or God bless you, I truly want God to do just that; and the promise of God is that he will do what we ask. That makes it not only wise, but down right crucial that I watch what I say when I speak.

Vain: unsuccessful; futile; conceited (self importance; vanity).

This world is filled with words. “Everybody’s talking at me; I can’t hear a word they’re saying.” TV has words being spoken 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. News, sit coms, talk shows, weather, preachers, religious shows; it all becomes one drone of empty, powerless words that deafen my ears. Sacred, secular, no difference. “Everybody’s talking at me; I can’t hear a word they’re saying.” Too much, too many makes them all meaningless.

God’s words are more then empty air fillers. They have life energy, creative energy in them. ‘God said…and there was.’ They have healing energy in them. ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ They have resurrection energy in them. ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ That powerful energy of words is given as a promise to those who believe in Jesus. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:14). Saying God damn you and not expecting that to be fulfilled would be taking God’s name in vain.

Another way of taking God’s name in vain is speaking God’s words for him, without one first hearing what God says to the speaker. There is a lot of ‘God said this, and God said that; God promises this and God promises that; God’s going to do this and God’s going to do that,’ these days. But look at the condition of our world, our communities, our homes, our selves. Are those words, acclaimed to God, producing good fruit, or are they building up the reputations and glorifying those who are speaking them?


For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower
and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing
for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10, 11

God’s name and his words are full of energy and they are powerful. I need to be mindful and watchful of the words I say and the words I write, especially when they are connected to God’s name.