Have you ever gone back to read what you have written before? Maybe it is a letter you wrote and found again, an email you sent, or just a journal entry you made when you were younger. It may even be an audio or video recording of something you watched again and maybe even asked, ‘do I sound like that?’ Whether that be something from a few months to years or decades before, as you go over what you had expressed (in your own voice) you realize that it may or may not be the same thing you would say today. It may even reinforce something you had said, and you are even more convicted by those things as you read them again. What value does It have in going over it again now?
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.” Haggai 1:5
How well do you keep your word? If you say to a friend or business acquaintance that you are going to take care of something today, do you do it? Its not always a question of how good your memory is, but whether or not people will believe you if you give them your word. I hate committing to something that I am not sure I can make happen. I may say I will try to get something done, but if the outcome is questionable, I don’t want to lie. I dealt with some proclaimed professional people this past year who stated they would do something and did not follow through, even after repeated inquiries. I also dealt with a much smaller handful of professionals who did what they said and were fairly prompt in replying to phone calls. Those who followed up on their word have earned my trust for any future collaboration, and honestly, I would be much less likely to ask, much less hire any of the others to do any work for me. How many chances do you give others who have failed you to try and make it right again? Would you ever trust someone who can’t keep their word to you?
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. Proverbs 11:3
How much do you trust God’s Word? Do you ever hear a verse and recall it, but realize it has even more meaning in your life now? Do you really believe all that the Bible says from Genesis to Revelation? If we doubt even a part of what God has declared in His Word to us, then we call the whole thing into question. When we trust Him at His word, then we are more apt to believe what he has said throughout his word, and in what he says to us daily as well. When we trust God with our prayers and our lives, we can better see how He proves himself to us over and over again. If we don’t take him at his word, then we are less likely to believe the truth, even when it is right in front of us. How much are you willing to trust Him today?
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8
The next time you read something you have written, or something from another author, your view of them will influence how much you trust what they are saying. I often hold a new writer under suspicion until I can verify whether or not they speak the truth, and therefore whether I can trust what they say. God has proven himself through his word and by other means, so I trust him with my life today and the rest of my years. Do you?
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Yours in Christ,
Clark
