God's resolutions, part 2 

 

“He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly … He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.” (Psalm 147:15,19)

In the last blog post we looked at what God resolves to do each year from Psalm 147. Far better than our new year’s resolutions are God’s resolutions and promises to his people. Psalm 147 contains quite a few of these resolutions that God makes, so let’s look at another one today. One of the things that God promises to do this year, and every year, is to speak.

Psalm 147 tells us that God “sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly” (v15). It’s important to remember that this psalm was written before we had email (if you can imagine such a time!) It was written before text messages, WhatsApp, Zoom and Facebook Messenger. It was written before telephones, not just the ones we have in our pockets. It was even written before there was such a thing as Royal Mail!

In those days, if you wanted to send a message to someone you would need to write it down on a piece of parchment and give it to a messenger. The messenger would then need to travel from where you are to where the person you need to communicate with is. If the message was urgent, the messenger would need to run all the way!

When the psalm says of God, ‘his word runs swiftly’, it is telling us that God’s word is urgent and important. It’s like sending a messenger and getting them to run all the way. That’s because God’s word is powerful and transformative. When God speaks, things happen.

Psalm 147 illustrates that by telling us some of the things that happen when God speaks: the seasons change, snow comes, ice and hail. Then when God speaks again the snow melts and the rivers run once more. When God speaks, things happen.

Psalm 147 reminds us that God speaks to his people. God speaks generally to and through his creation, and God speaks specifically to his people and reveals himself to them. We have God’s word even clearer in the person of Jesus, the Word made flesh, and in the words of the Bible.

So if God resolves to speak, what should we do? We should listen!. How will you listen to God speaking this year? Specifically, how will you pay attention to God speaking through his word, the Bible, in 2023?

We all need a bit of a kickstart with Bible reading from time to time. Perhaps you have a pattern and system that has worked for you for some time, or maybe you need something fresh to break out of bad habits and establish new ones?

This year, I am using the YouVersion Bible app to help me with my Bible reading. Not only can it keep track on your daily reading, and even remind you to read the Bible, it also has a lot of different reading plans to help you. Some are long, like reading the Bible in a year, and some are quite short, looking at an idea or theme for a few days or so. If you are interested in using this particular tool you can find it at bible.com.

Whatever tools we use to help us get into a good habit of reading the Bible, let’s be people who listen to God speaking, because when God speaks, things happen.

Photo by sporlab on Unsplash