In her toddler stage, long before she got a strong liking for the TV, our daughter would often toss the remote into the dustbin.
At that point, it meant nothing to her. It was merely an object she loved playing with – equivalent to a plastic bottle or chocolate wrapper.
Today, the TV remote obviously gets reverential treatment in our home because our girls know it for all its worth.
For David Mazurek, it was an even greater treasure.
For 30 years, he had used a jagged, gnarly, heavy rock as a door stop for his barn.
Yes, the rock was a tad odd in appearance and had furrowed many brows.
But for 30 years, David had ignored its peculiarity and used it to keep his animal shed door open.
When he finally hauled it for inspection to a geology professor at Central Michigan University, he was slack-jawed.
The peculiar rock was, after all, a meteorite valued at a whopping $100,000.
Whoever heard of a farm doorstop worth $100,000?
But because David was oblivious of its worth, he had grossly underused it for three decades.
Isn’t that how we sometimes treat God’s word?
Don’t we grossly underutilize it because we don’t fully understand the treasure it carries?
Have we overlooked the riches bound up in the rustling pages of our Bibles?
Have we scanned the scriptures nonchalantly or even failed to read them at all, because we do not expect them to stir any real transformation?
Have we used our Bibles as doorstops when they should, in fact, be the instruction manual in our homes?
Dynamic Explosive Power
The word of God is living, active, potent, powerful, dynamic, forceful, effective, sharp, piercing, penetrating, eternal, infallible, unbreakable, life-giving – and then some.
All the adjectives of this world are not sufficient to describe the potency of God’s word.
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”(James 1:21)
God’s word is potent enough to snatch the human soul from destruction and reroute it towards paradise.
It redirects the course of history, breathing life where death had once ravaged.
That same word can flip our lives around if we make room for it and receive it with meekness.
It offers healing, restoration, order, provision, success, peace, elevation, sobriety, and a ton of other blessings.
The right heart posture of reverence and meekness activates its potency.
The Almighty God, whose throne is in heaven and uses the earth we tread as his footstool, is drawn towards those who revere and treasure His word.
“But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word. (Isaiah 66:2)
Two Men, Different Postures
The Ark of the Covenant had lodged in the house of Abinadab for many years after Israel had suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the Philistines.
King David had grown restless and rallied thirty thousand men to transport it back to Jerusalem.
They hoisted the ark of the covenant on a brand new cart and tasked Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, to drive it.
Note that God had earlier instructed Moses on how the holy things of the temple were to be handled.
The ark of the covenant was to be transported reverently, not atop a cart but on the shoulders of the Kohathites (Numbers 7:9).
However, perhaps in their excitement, David and his men had glossed over that detail.
Their reverence for the ark had been marred by the hubbub of the moment.
All seemed fine and dandy as the shimmering cart clanked and thumped.
David and His men serenaded it, singing their hearts out and playing music on all kinds of instruments.
Then unexpectedly, the oxen pulling the cart stumbled.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Uzzah thought to himself
Instinctively, he reached out to steady the ark.
Swiftly and “responsibly”.
This aroused God’s anger, and Uzzah dropped dead.
And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God. (1 Chronicles 13:9-10)
David froze in his tracks.
Why was God so incensed? What had they possibly done wrong?
He pouted and sucked his thumb for a moment.
Had they punched above their weight?
He halted the transportation altogether and took the ark to the house of Obed-Edom, where it lingered for 3 months.
During the time the ark was in his house, Obed-Edom experienced an avalanche of blessings.
“Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:12)
Two men, different postures
Uzzah had probably gotten used to the ark, seeing that it had lodged in his father’s house for many years.
He had possibly become overly casual with it and forgotten that it represented the very presence of God.
Obed-Edom, on the other hand, knew better than to get familiar with the “explosive dynamite”.
He had seen a man drop dead while handling it casually.
He accorded the ark the honor, value, and reverential treatment it deserved.
In return for three months, blessings overtook him and his household.
Ditch the Casualness
Have you had a casual attitude towards the word of God?
The word of God is life!
“The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
Ignoring the word of God is akin to strolling past a gold mine with the interest of a squirrel.
The word has the power not only to save your soul but also to reinvigorate every aspect of your life.
Scripture tells us that we perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)
This life-giving knowledge is not in the ideologies of men but in the infallible word of God.
Is yours a casual attitude like Uzzah’s or a reverential one like that of Obed-Edom?
Job, the greatest man in the East, held God’s commandments in high esteem.
“I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food”. (Job 23:12)
Little wonder that every kind of blessing knew his address.
Do you treasure God’s word?
What are you willing to lay down so that you embrace it tightly, revere it, and obey it?
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Mathew 13:44)
Choose to see God’s word for all its worth.
Value it.
Prioritize it.
Obey it.
Believe it.
Follow it diligently.
Only with the right posture will you activate its potency.
Comments (0)