Efficacy of God’s Word

The efficacy of God’s word (the Bible) is predicated on its origin. The speaker is God and his speech is his work. As God speaks he has in mind his own purposes for his speech. He may make a promise to us in his word, desiring us to trust him. He may warn us in his word, desiring us to be cautious of something. He instructs us according to holiness, desiring us to obey.

God’s word comes to us in its written form. But also we are heralds of God’s word, teachers of God’s word, proclaimers of God’s word. In this sense, we are instruments.

When we are the instruments of God’s word (its proclaimer, teacher, defender, etc.) we have the experience of being associated with the effectiveness of God’s word. As we instruct according to God’s word, do people obey? If so I feel great, if not I feel a failure. Likewise, if I proclaim God’s promises desiring people to trust in them, or warn people desiring that they be cautious.

The obvious problem with this is that we associate the efficacy of God’s word with ourselves. If the outcome is not what we expected or hoped for then we may all too readily bear the burden of this seeming failure.

Let us remember then that we are heralds of the gospel, ambassadors for Christ. The origin of the gospel does not come from us, but God.

To this end, I really appreciate Spurgeon’s metaphor of the word of God being as a lion. Spurgeon says that as people attack the lion you do not need to defend it for the lion will defend itself. Spurgeon was talking about the authority of God’s word but I think this truth extrapolates to the efficacy of God’s word.

Much like a lion, the word of God is full of life. It is not dormant and static but powerful.

In times of discouragement, we may wonder at God’s mysterious work (or ‘tangible’ lack thereof). However, ironically, we may find the greatest remedy to discouragement in the word of God which will lift us up again. In our doubts or despondency let us not give up on the word of God, rather run to it, and in that way, run to Christ, the word of God, God himself.