“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3).
IN THE BEGINNIING GOD SAID
Early on the Bible we get a Hebrew word—I found myself thinking about this word in while I was awake at night, I didn't sleep too much with this Hebrew phrase going through my mind.
"way-yō-mer" I'd read it before, it means "He has said", usually meaning God has said.
God speaks and it happens; the Holy Spirit wants us to know this as soon as we start reading the Scriptures. "way-yō-mer" is a common phrase, if you look at the Hebrew interlinear you will most likely have spotted it.
When God speaks things happen, events take place, mighty works are accomplished, and people are helped, healed and warned. When God speaks we should listen and obey. For “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?” (Lam 3:37).
The man or woman who ignores God is on a temporary transient foundation. “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand” (Lam 3:37). When God speaks, let us realise it is serious.
The Roman centurion understood the importance of God speaking. For he explained to Jesus that in a sense he was like Christ, with authority in his words: “’I tell one to go, and he goes; and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those following Him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith’” (Matt 8:9).
The centurion realised that Jesus had power in his words, he understood that Christ was reigning in a kingdom that was not of this world.
Yes, Jesus has that power: “For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” (Isa 14:27).
This should encourage the fear of God in our hearts. God is gracious, that’s true. For when the time was right the prodigal son made his way home, and the father ran to meet him. However, not all lost sons make their way home, but seem content to stay lost. They do so at their peril. “For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Ps 1:6).
We do well to remember that judgement is in God’s hand.
The children of Israel had been rescued from Egyptian slavery but refused to enter the promised land, therefore they spent 40 years in the wilderness dying before they could move into the new land. Moses saw this and wrote, “You return man to dust and say, ‘Return, O children of man!’” (Ps 90:3).
Moses knew God well—The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend; yet Moses also knew the fear of God. “The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear’” (Heb 12:21).
So we come before the Lord humbly, with thankful hearts and prayerful requests because we know that when God speaks, so shall it happen. “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please" (Isa 55:11).