The Effectual Power of God's Word

Hello Everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but that’s just how it is with me. I hope you don’t mind. Have you ever read through Psalm 31? It’s well worth the read, especially since it is the Word of God. Go ahead and read through it slowly and prayerfully. It’s only 24 verses long. As you’re reading through this wonderful passage please take the time to focus in on verses 14 and 15 but not without due consideration of the surrounding context.

Psalm 31:14-15 (NKJV) 14 But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”15 My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.”

I took the opportunity here a few weeks ago to e-mail a friend I haven’t seen or talked with now for quite a few months. I filled her in on some of the things that were going on in my life just for the sake of keeping in touch and up to date. At the end of the e-mail I asked her to read and meditate on this verse. Wow, the correspondence that came forth from that suggestion really threw me back up against a wall (not literally-of course).

Upon suggesting that she read Psalm 31:15 her reply e-mail read “You have me curious... Psalm 31:15 is this just general food for our present national situation or the situations of Christians in general or is it more specific?” And then another e-mail followed soon after with, “Hi Larry,I must say I'm a bit perplexed by the choice of passage you asked me to meditate on. Did I say something that upset you in some way that you felt persecuted or that I or anyone else was your enemy..? You've got me in tears here trying to figure this out especially when taken in context of the passages previous verses.” I then e-mailed an apology for having unintentionally bringing about this spiritual anguish she was experiencing and then said that- “The Word of God is the most fitting philosophy of life and is relevant even today, thousands of years after it was written. I'm amazed that even a passage like Psalm 31:15 that speaks to me personally can speak to you personally or to anyone else wherever and whenever they are.”

Her last e-mail revealed a spiritual maturity unmatched by anyone I know and the details of her experience, are too personal to post.

You see, I was shocked, not at her response toward me but at how the Word of God worked in her life and it reminded me of the verse that says that His Word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11) and how God used me in my friends soul conversion through a general suggestion of a particular verse. How was I to know? And that’s the mystery of it all, I really didn’t know and now the blatant reality of what has happened in an obvious display of God’s power and is now impressed upon my psyche where all I can do is glorify God.

The Word of God not only worked in her life to bring about a conversion in her own thinking but it also clearly demonstrated to me that His Word is the one thing that makes the difference in our lives as the People of God.

We hear all kinds of voices and we see all kinds of persecutions around us everyday and everywhere and sometimes we wonder who will deliver us and save us from this darkness and how and why we’re in the midst of world gone Mad but then we hear the words of the Psalmist, “My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.”

P.S. This includes yourself. You do know that we are our own worst enemy?
In Christ,
-Larry