Proverbs 25:11
The first real word I ever uttered, intelligibly enough to be understood by someone else, was "Soap." My mother says I embarked on my verbal journey through life while taking a bath. Reportedly, I was not able to pronounce the first letter of the word. However, since I was sitting in a tub of sudsy water everyone agreed I was saying "Soap". My "Baby Book" says I had already said "Bye Bye" and "Da Da" but "Soap" was my first real word.
The first word I ever wrote was never recorded in my "Baby Book." The first word I wrote may have been my own name, but it may also have been "Dick" or "Jane" or even the dog, "Spot." Spot was the dog that Dick and Jane would see run.
The first Words God uttered that were recorded for us to know were, "Let there be light." Almighty God spoke the world into existence and then inspired humans to write down the story of the power of His Word!
Spoken words are filled with feeling and emotion, and turn with shades of meaning. Spoken words are like ships on a windy sea. Written words are monuments that remember clearly but do not change.
Speaking and writing are two edges of the same sword. Speaking the word has power and impact. Writing the word has permanence. I believe the spoken word has been relegated to a position of second place in the world of verbal communication. In our world, speaking is a poor step-brother to writing.
No one says, "Oh don't pay any attention to him, he's just writing." (Normally we say "talking")
"Write, write, write, all you ever do is write." (The saying is usually "talk, talk, talk")
The very fact that I have had to resort to the written word to say what I am saying to you now also proves the point. I would much rather be talking to you about this right now. We could sit quietly with two cups of tea and some pleasant music in the background. We could enjoy some "small talk" as we get ready for just the right moment to begin a serious discussion. If you were not getting the point I could see it in your eyes and I could go over the point from a different angle.
But here we are, stuck in the written world. I have a cup of tea, but I'm not sure about you. This "small talk" is getting boring, even for me, so I guess I had better get to the point.
I can't remember when I saw a genuine pulpit Bible still in place in the front of a church. The large black antique was there to be read. It had large type to help those of us past 40 who need a little extra help with reading. Sometime in the past 50 years churches decided to remove the pulpit Bibles. Maybe they were just in the way of the pastor who had his own very readable copy of the Word. Whatever the reason it was not because they were worn out from too much reading.
The public reading of the Bible in churches didn't vanish when the large black Bibles went away, but it has greatly decreased. You can sit through long public assemblies of believers and not hear even a verse from the Bible.
Reading the Bible is like prayer. It is much easier to talk about it than to do it. It almost seems that some sermons are constructed to use as little scripture as possible. Single verses are the basis of pages and pages of commentary.
We have all read books which encourage more prayer time, greater fellowship among believers, and better quiet times in the Word, but I have never seen a book which encourages public Bible reading.
Before the days of the printing press, books of any kind were a rare and precious commodity. Hand copying was the only way any manuscript could be duplicated. Reading and writing were activities for the few and not the many, but everyone who could speak a language could listen to it.
During the time of the Reformation there was a push to promote literacy so that more people could read the Word of God. The first major work printed on the forerunner of the modern printing press was the Bible.
As important as reading and writing are in this world, man was created to speak and listen first of all. When I was a boy, my father taught me many important lessons about life. All of those lessons were spoken, not written. I truthfully can't remember even one letter from my father during the 42 years that we both lived on this planet. I can remember many things he said and they are some of the very things I am trying to pass on to my children.
The audible word via radio and television has won the battle with the newspaper written word. Television may have pictures to enhance the words, but the fundamental message is carried by the spoken word more than the visual image.
Throughout history millions of people have been unable to read the written word and were not considered to be handicapped. But the man who cannot hear has always been pitied.
I have a friend who is blind and yet he functions marvelously as a communicator. In fact, Tom listens to dramatic readings of Biblical characters and then memorizes them with incredible precision. Tom cannot read the written word, but he is a full participant in life through his mastery of the spoken word.
I am a verbal communicator. I am much more comfortable with a few notes and someone to share with than doing what I am doing right now. You see the feelings that I can express with a pause or the lifting of an eyebrow are totally missing in written English. Yes we do have a few things like exclamation marks, boldface type, italics, and underlining to attempt the insertion of spoken feeling into written communication, but they are so terribly limited.
You have read the Words of God when He said, "Let there be light", but have you ever tried to imagine the tone of His Almighty voice when those words rolled off of God's lips and shook the very cosmos itself. The voice of God cannot be described, but those who heard it sometimes thought they were hearing the thunder. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, imagine the first few moments when you are ushered into the presence of God Himself and you look as He opens His mouth to speak or perhaps even address you directly. The only thing written in a book in heaven, according to the Bible is the names of the saved.
The power of God's spoken word is beyond our thinking. One of the reasons God cannot lie is that when God says a thing it becomes reality whether or not it was "true" when God spoke the words. Frequently in the Bible God speaks of things in the future as if they were in the present. If an English teacher were to mark the Bible for mistakes God might not do so well in keeping His tenses straight. He is above the need to worry about the difference in the past, present and future. In fact, if God has said a thing it is as good as done. A future event predicted by God can be safely spoken of in the past tense.
There is a staggering and growing illiteracy rate in the western world. If you were to give everyone who does not have a Bible a copy of the Word of God, about half of them could not read it for themselves. These illiterates are not deaf. They can hear the Word of God if someone will read it to them.
In these few paragraphs I have only touched the corner of a vast and, I think, largely unexplored field of truth about the spoken Word of God.
Add to your "quiet times" times of speaking the Word aloud. Add precious moments of the spoken Word to your worship assemblies. Quote aloud an appropriate verse of scripture for each hour of your day!
The Lord will bless you as you echo back the very Words of God! Have you had your "Apple of Gold today?"
Bill Steensland
December 9, 1996
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