God's Word is Health to the Body

PRAYER PRACTICE

Spoken Prayer – Out loud, pray for God to speak to you through your reading. Praise God for giving us His word. Ask the Spirit to help you read with faith, and to live out what you hear from God through the passage.

DAILY READING

Proverbs 4:20-27

DEVOTION / REFLECTION

Turn Your Ear to My Words

by Tom Richards

Today we read a father’s advice to his son, which is a pattern throughout the book of Proverbs.  The author, Solomon, emphasizes the importance of the words that the father shares.  In verse 21 he says, “Do not let them (words) out of your sight, keep them within your heart.”  In verse 23 Solomon continues, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

In the bible, we see the word heart used many times.  One definition of heart that made sense to me in bible applications says, “The heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but of all operations of human life.”  Alternatively, it is our “control center”. 

Solomon wanted the son in our reading to gain more than “head knowledge” of the father’s words.  He wanted the son to have “heart knowledge”, that is, knowledge that makes a difference in how the son lives.  When the father’s words are in the son’s heart, the mouth can be kept “free of perversity.”  When the father’s words are in the son’s heart, “corrupt talk can be kept far from his lips”.  When the father’s words are in the son’s heart “they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.”

We live at a time when information, knowledge, and words are abundant.  There are all kinds of statistics regarding our incredible access to all of the above compared to previous generations.  But what about the words of Solomon?  What about words that will enable us to find life and “health”? 

We have a Father who has given us his Word, not just the written word but according to John 1: 1-3, Jesus Christ, his son!  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. “ This Word wants to dwell in our hearts.  He wants us to know him --- not just know about him.  

So, it is with the words of scripture.  In Colossians 3:16 Paul says: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God..” Like the father in Proverbs God’s desire for his children is that we embrace the Word (Jesus) and his word (scripture) in our hearts – the “control center” of our lives. This is truly the path to life!