Always Growing in Words

When we were itty bitty, we processed the world in a different way. We understood God through the presence of the people given charge to take care of us. As we grew, we moved around more, explored the world. We put things in our mouths. We tasted things and touched things, in order to figure out this big, wide world.

Then, came words.

We listened to the words all around us. Our brains were interested because of our natural desire to survive and connect. We took in the words around us, we processed them, and we eventually tried them on for size out of our own mouths. We put together sounds. We began to feel understood. We then acquired more words and linked them together. This is an extremely simple description, but it serves us well for our space here. Psalm 139:4-6 also reminds us that there was a time before language, and then there were words:

Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

One way of seeing this passage is as an intimate picture of God holding us when we are the teeny-tiniest of human beings, hemming us in, protecting us. Even when our world and our families (or lack thereof) were complicated, God’s tender care was swirling around us, somehow. God’s hand was upon us, every moment — in the before, during, and after of childhood.

These verses in the psalm are also a picture of God holding us in our day today. Before we say the thing that will connect us, or disconnect us, from someone, God’s hand is there for guidance. Before we say the thing that will bring understanding or bring challenge to a conversation, God is not far off. Before we say the thing that hurts or helps, God knows of it. He hems in our hearts and our minds in those moments. We are never outside of His hands’ support underneath us and stretched out to lead us.

This is easy to see when things go well, when words bring joy…

but what do we see of God’s hemming us in and caring for us when words don’t go well or lead to frustration, sadness, or other challenging responses?

A man named Paul, one of the writers of the New Testament had a lot of words, and many of them led to hurt. But God found Paul. In fact, God knew where Paul was all along. He didn’t stop Paul’s hurtful words like we’d like; instead, God hemmed in the people who were receiving his hurtful words, and God hemmed Paul into His love and His forgiveness in time. When the people became angry that Paul was proclaiming Jesus as Lord of all, God gave Paul friends to more literally hem him in, or enclose him, in a basket and lower him outside the city wall by night, saving Paul’s life. (Read that story in Acts 9.)

God encloses you too. The very act of bringing us language in stages throughout our life is an act of God’s care. Language isn’t everything, but consider how big a thing it is. To think that one of the reasons God gaves us words was to get what we need in this world is amazing to me. Even more than that, God made Himself THE WORD. Language is a huge part of who God is. By giving us words, He shares Himself with us. God could have made Himself known to humankind by any means, but He does so often by way of words, His Word, the Bible, and our words to one another about His grace in our lives.

As Psalm 139:6 says, “…such knowledge is too wonderful for me!” Stop to think about the place of words in our life, whether babies in the womb beginning to acquire words by the sounds of their mom’s/dad’s/grandma’s/aunt’s voices, or the huge and wild mystery of the Bible written out in language after language, or spoken from heart to heart, so all people may know Christ as THE WORD. Wowzers. It is too wonderful. I cannot attain it. I cannot reach it.

But God made Himself reachable, through words.

He came to us, so we do not have to reach up to Him. God sent His Son, Jesus, THE WORD made flesh. He dwelt among us, spoke our words to people all around Him. Jesus cared through words spoken over people in need. Jesus listened to people’s words of heartache, of pleading, of need. And He still does. He speaks in His Word. He listens to your words. He sends the Spirit to give us words. 

I cannot attain all the knowledge and all the words, but I can attain Christ, and that is all I need.

Always growing in words, every day.

GROWTH QUESTIONS:

Consider three concrete examples of words on your lips in the last week that brought kindness and God’s compassion to the world?

Consider three concrete examples of words on your lips in the last week that could have used a little more kindness and compassion before they entered the world?

Next up: Always Growing in Remembrance

Join in discussion for our first video in the Always Growing series, Always Growing in Remembrance, on the event Facebook page: