by Dale Reeves
Story Pastor
I have a new daily ritual. I’ve added it to my morning to-do list along with other things like getting out of bed, getting a shower every day, eating breakfast, reading God’s Word, and brushing my teeth. It’s something I share with my two grown daughters almost every day. Perhaps you’ve jumped on this phenomenon as well. It’s a little activity called Wordle. It began with just a handful of players in October 2021, and it grew to millions of users per day in just three months. It’s something you can do every day that takes less than five minutes of your time. You can only play the game one time each day. Players have just six attempts to guess a five-letter word. It’s that simple.
You’ve probably seen some users sharing their results on social media. I prefer to just do that in a text with my two daughters every day. And, I have to confess there was one day when I didn’t get the word of the day. Green boxes indicate that you have the right letter in the right place. Yellow boxes indicate that you have a correct letter, but you don’t have it in the correct position. Letters that have not been guessed yet remain in gray at the bottom of the grid. You know that if someone got all green on their second guess, then their win was more luck than skill. But if you see lots of gray and yellow squares down to the sixth and final line, then you know there was probably some agony involved in that final guess. For me, rhyming words often present the greatest challenge as you must try to find the right one while eliminating the ones that are not correct.
God’s Word Every Day
The correct word today (Tuesday of this week) happens to be “Atone.” I managed to get it on my fourth try. It is a biblical word that refers to what Jesus did for us on the cross through his sacrificial death. He “atoned” for our sins, bringing about reconciliation between God and us, if we choose to accept this gift and place our faith in him. Here’s a question I’d like you to ponder today. Do you have a “word of the day” that you get from God? Or, maybe a “word of the week”?
Maybe it’s something you clearly hear from God in your quiet times with him. Maybe he is just telling you to wait on him, but then he gives you a few action steps to take care of while you are actively waiting. Have you ever had someone say to you, “I have a word for you”? They might be saying that they feel that God has actually given them a specific message he wants them to communicate to you. I do believe that God sometimes confirms his words to us through others who know us well, but be careful, not “every word for you” might be accurate. But, we can always know that God’s Word written in the pages of Scripture for you is spot on. And his Word does not adjust itself to whatever is currently trending in our culture. God’s Word is absolute truth. Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (NLT).
When we talk about the Word of God, we are talking about his communication to us. If we are vigilant, we will hear the right words from him when we need to hear them the most. This is the power of memorizing Scripture that we can draw on for strength in our times of need. The psalmist said, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11, ESV). We know that Jesus defeated the temptations from the evil one by quoting God’s Word back to him. We would be wise to do the same.
The Eternal Word
The apostle John begins his Gospel with these words:
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. . . . So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:1-5, 14, NLT).
Language experts estimate that the average person uses about 16,000 words per day. Over the course of an 80-year lifetime, that’s approximately 467 million words. But God communicated to us through One WORD, Jesus, who has always been with him and will always be for eternity. The Greek word used for “Word” throughout that much-quoted passage of Scripture is the word logos. Logos in the Greek can mean anything from a thought to a principle, standard, logic, reason, or speech. In the context of John 1, we know that we are talking about Jesus (God’s communication sent down to us) being present with God from the beginning of time.
King Solomon wrote these words in the book of Proverbs:
“I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth . . . I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep . . . Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.”
“Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it” (Proverbs 8:23-25, 27, 30-33, NIV).
Some commentators see this passage as referring to God’s eternal wisdom, which is a central theme in Proverbs. Others see a lot of parallels with the living Word, Jesus, that we see in John chapter one, who was present with God the Father at the creation of the world. Wordle is a fun fad that will come and go, but our God has been communicating himself to us through his Son, and the written Word without fail—and he will continue to do so after Wordle has run its course. He is still speaking. The question is, are you listening for his Word for you today?