The Power of Words

I have often wondered what the words were that Jesus stooped to write that day in scripture. (John 8: 6-8) The day the woman was brought before him surrounded by would be assailants ready to hurl their stones.  His words changed the outcome that day. Words so powerful that the stones dropped one by one and a woman’s life was miraculously saved.   

I’ve experienced powerful words in my own life.  Witnessed first hand what they can do. Words that broke my heart. Words that made me burn with anger. I have also been the recipient of words that wrapped my heart up like a warm blanket and brought comfort and healing.  Comfort and healing words were what my sweet friend, Jacki, was known for. 

The day I got her card in the mail I cried. 

How could she possibly know exactly the right words to pen that would expose and then comfort my troubled heart?  How could she know the exact time I would need her words of healing? 

The words in her card changed me. In ways other than just providing a bit of temporary comfort from a thrift store card that then gets stuffed in a box and filed away.  No Jackie’s  card changed me permanently. 

I still have the magnet she tucked into her card to this day. It is a little worn around the edges now but still hangs on my refrigerator serving as a daily reminder of God’s great plans for me from Jeremiah 29:11.  A reminder that I am never overlooked and forgotten on the long tiresome days of taking care of my ailing husband.  It is also an endearing reminder of the caring heart of a special lady long gone home to be with Jesus. I so miss her swagger, humor and heart. I always will. 

What made Jacki special is what made the card special. My friend had been the recipient of a liver transplant. She knew what it was like to be so sick you thought you would die. She also knew first hand what her husband had gone through to care for her when she was so desperately ill.  She took the time to listen to my heart facing my husband’s illness and she was determined to encourage me. Not because it was the Christian thing to do but because it meant the world to her to do it. 

It is hard to imagine something so small as words can have that much power.

They can change outcomes within seconds after they are spoken. They often hang in the air causing hesitation and they cut through the air slicing a heart like a knife. Some kill or while others bring life.  

I’ve heard that the words Jesus wrote that day in the sand were probably the Ten Commandments. Personally, it makes sense to me that they would have indeed been the words he wrote with his finger on the ground. After all God the Father’s own finger had wrote the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai all those years ago on the famous tablets of stone. It would perhaps explain the conviction the accusers felt standing there that day and why each accuser dropped their stones as they saw their own sins written down before them. 

But it really doesn’t matter that we don’t know what Jesus wrote that day.  The important thing is that there was power in the words of Jesus.  Words powerful enough to change the ending of a story. Powerful enough to change hearts and the direction each person was going. Powerful enough to transform the life of a fallen woman. 

Words powerful enough to change my own life. Many times I have thrown down my own stones at the sound of His words. I have experienced his words pick me up and dust me off. His words have cleansed me from sin and shame and given me a fresh start. 

I now understand that it wasn’t Jacki’s words that brought such comfort to my heart that day. It was the words of Jesus that she was obedient enough to share. She was only the messenger and His hands and feet. The card was from Jacki. The words were from Him. 

So how will I use my words today is the question.

I will be honest that as much as I desire to share God’s words I have often used my own. Words that hurt instead of heal. Words that are spoken crossly when my day has been pressing. Words spoken in haste instead of letting them sit still on my tongue. Words like stones that I have quickly hurled in judgement. 

I am so grateful that that finger that wrote words on the ground that day is still writing life changing words today.

Instead of writing upon the ground, he is writing them upon the tables of my heart. Writing words that linger to correct me and bring forgiveness when I have inadvertently spoken. Writing words that bring healing and comfort when I am life weary and tired. Writing words that bring strength when I am weak. Also writing words that direct me when I need to know which path to take. 

Apostle Paul recorded it this way, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 2 Corinthians 3: 2-3 (NIV) Words written that have brought change and forgiveness to this woman writing this blog the same as to that woman so long ago. 

So today I will go to His Holy Word and not just read the words but let Jesus write them upon my heart. He will bring them to my memory when I need them. He will remind me of them so I too like Jacki can share them with others. For it is His words that make all the difference. 

See you in the Field,

Susan