Handling the Word of God

Jer 33-36 In the time of King Josiah, the word of the Lord was found and read. He tore his clothes and ordered that the false images be torn down, and they return to God’s ways. God honored Josiah, and his reign was one of peace. King Jehoiakim also heard the word of the Lord read, but he dishonored it by burning it paragraph by paragraph. God told Jeremiah that because he did that, he would die an ignoble death and have no descendants to sit on the throne. In the book of Galatians, Paul writes that God will not be mocked. People will reap what they sow. [Gal 6:7]

How do I handle God’s Word, especially when the Spirit speaks? Do I do as the king when I read something that pricks my heart but gloss over it, or do I do as Thomas Jefferson and cut out those passages I don’t like? Today men say those words were for another time, but God’s Word will never return void. [Is 55:11]

May we honor God’s Word and remember that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. [Matt 6:21]May we be like Josiah or Mary, who “treasured up all these words, pondering them in her heart what they might mean.” [Luke 2:19]