February 20, 2020 Working God’s Word
Many years ago I heard in a class on the Bible that it was very important to rightly-divide God’s Word. At the time, I didn’t really understand the fullness of what that meant. Actually, I’m still working on that, but I think I understand it better now.
2 Timothy 2:15 tells us: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
John 4:24 tells us that God is spirit and Psalms 138:2 tells us that God magnified His Word above all His name. These two verses put together tell us that God’s Word is spiritual and that the words in God’s Word are spiritual words given by God Who is the creator of the heavens and the earth, which we read in Genesis 1:1:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
That’s a very big thing and if we want to know what’s happening in our world and life in general, you really need to go to God’s Word and learn how to put the puzzle together.
Life is not complicated but it can be like a puzzle at times and God, our heavenly Father is the only source for learning how to put it together. God would like for us to be workmen of His Word, and if we want to stand approved before Him, our only course of action is to learn to rightly divide His Word.
2 Peter 1:3 tells us: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue.”
There are many sources offering spiritual attainment and they have managed to engulf much of the world. However, if we want to find out about the things that pertain to life and godliness, we need to go to the Scriptures, which are God’s Word. Any way you look at it, it’s necessary to go to God’s Word, the Scriptures, if you want to piece together the truths pertaining to this life.
Man, by his very nature, is God-hungry, and will always be looking for sources to fill that hunger. This accounts for the idolatry that engulfed people in the Old and New Testament times and is still a prime source of worship today.
God always knew this would happen. Even though man is basically God-hungry, he still has his flesh, his mind, to deal with and the flesh will always try to achieve the things of God through its own works. The irony is that it is impossible for man to achieve righteousness within himself or by his own works. But he thinks he can!
Romans 4:3 tells us: “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” This is doing it the easy way!
Romans 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” This is doing it the hard way!
The key here is that Abraham believed God and as a result God counted him as righteous. Abraham worked God’s Word in his heart and life and God looked on his heart. The same applies to us in this day and time. Abraham did not have the written Scriptures such as we do and yet he was a very faithful believer. Evil was just as common back in his day as it is in our day, just without all the technical stuff that the devil has at his disposal.
In further thought on the class on the Bible mentioned earlier, it was driven home very aggressively that we need to be workmen of God’s Word if we want to be serious about the things of God. This is a very fair statement because you’re probably going to be a workman in a number of things throughout your lifetime, why not put some work into God’s Word?
I’m amazed at the amount of time people put into reading the news: whether it be locally, nationally or worldwide. I can understand wanting to have a general knowledge of what’s going on. However, our culture has been tricked into thinking that you need to know this and that without any idea of the toll it takes on the heart and mind.
Jeremiah 15:16 tells us, “Thy words were found and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”
Jeremiah declared this revelation from God because he knew how important it is to put positive wonderful words into our minds. You should do this on a regular basis and be consistent. We need to learn how to put the words together in the sentence, verse and context to get the whole picture so that we understand God’s heart for mankind.
1 Timothy 2:2 tells us, “Who will have [wills that] all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
This seems like an exaggerated figure of speech, but it is His desire. God knows that not everybody is going to be saved. His Word was given for all mankind, but man is going to do what man is going to do. In the meantime, we as believers who love our heavenly Father and His wonderful Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, should continue to do what the believer’s in Berea did in Acts 17:11:
“…they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
So, why not be a workman of God’s Word? Funglimpses and all: Thanks for reading! Respectfully submitted. Will Grove