Tuesday Treasures: Hearing God Through His Word

A short time ago, I wrote a blog post on hearing God’s voice, the main point being that we as His children are able to hear Him—to receive specific words from Him on a regular basis. I talked a bit about how to hear Him—today I want to focus on a part of God’s communication with us that is closely connected, and that is the written Word of God. The Greek word logos refers both to the inspired written word and to Jesus, the living Word. The Greek word rhema refers to the spoken word and literally means “an utterance.” When God highlights something in Scripture to our hearts, we often receive a  rhema word. Sometimes it will simply be the Scripture—the Holy Spirit is speaking that Scripture to us at that moment. But sometimes, we will read something in the Bible, and God will speak to us regarding the way we are to apply or take hold of it. That too is rhema.

The test of the authenticity of a rhema from God is how it compares to the whole of Scripture. God isn’t going to contradict His written word. Or His character.

Verses 9b and 10 of Psalm 19 read: “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” When we read God’s word, whether we receive a rhema word or not, we should feel encouraged and thankful—it should be sweet to our spirits. All that God chose to have written down—so that we could read it—is precious. There is no substitute for them. I think of all the different sweeteners that are available on the market—but nothing quite compares to natural honey.

And when it pours into our spirits in such a way that we are changed by it, it’s like liquid gold permeating us—we are so thankful that God cares about us so much that He wants to connect with us and work powerfully in our lives.