Those who have been a Christian for a while will know the value of reading God’s Word on a regular basis. Often, we will read the Bible the same way we take in other information. We see the words on a page or a screen, we recognise them, and our brains sort out the meaning. Sometimes there is a sense that the message is for us, personally. We believe that the Holy Spirit is willing and able to minister truth to us as we read.
But there are different ways of reading and sometimes the Scriptures encourage us to speak God’s Word. Out loud.
King David, the worshipper, is not afraid to put voice to his love for the Lord: “My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever” (Ps 145: 12). The apostle, Peter, even seems to suggest that this is our central purpose: “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2: 9).
In other words, we exist to declare praise and truth. Out loud.
“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should” (Col 4: 3 – 4).
So, we speak God’s Word back to the Lord in worship, and we declare His Word to those who are lost. We also speak God’s Word to ourselves.
David has no qualms talking to himself in Psalm 42: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God…”, repeating the questions and exhortation later in the psalm and in Ps 43: 5.
When we speak to our souls, we remind ourselves of Biblical truth. When Moses was preparing the second-generation children of Israel to enter the Promised Land with the speeches we now know as the book of Deuteronomy, he wanted to impress upon them the life and death importance of obedience to God’s Word.
He said, “the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (Deut 30: 14).
Although the testimonies of God’s faithfulness and laws would have, to a certain extent, resided in their memories – their minds, the Lord wanted His Word in their hearts (where they will desire relationship with Him and obedience), but also in their mouths. They were to continually speak it out. They were to voice it to the Lord in worship, to each other, to their children (see Deut 6: 7) and to their own souls.
The word was to be in their mouths, “so that you can do it”.
What else?
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10: 8 – 9)
The believers in Acts 4 claimed Psalm 2 as their own, speaking it out with one voice. As a result, they were filled with the Spirit and with boldness.
Remarkable things can happen when speak God’s Word - salvation, the bold declaration of truth through worship and evangelism. And then power and transformation.
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