The Word

March 28

“Moses said to the LORD, ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ So the LORD said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.’ But Moses said, ‘O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.’ So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: ‘Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.’” Exodus 4:10-16.

“But Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’'" Luke 4:4

In these two passages of scripture, we see the importance of the Word of God. In Exodus, when the Holy One of Israel endeavors to enlist the agreement of Moses to God’s plan to use him to speak to Pharaoh, Moses insists that he is incapable of such a momentous task. The Lord assures him that HE will HIMSELF give Moses the words to speak. All he must do is be obedient to speak the words he’s given.

Moses refuses to capitulate and God becomes angry with him, but He does not relent from his insistence that Moses is indeed chosen to represent Him before Pharaoh. What God does is to allow Moses some latitude. God tells him that his brother Aaron may act as Moses' spokesman but that Moses is the one who will actually stand before God and receive His words. Aaron will accord to Moses the great respect of one who is charged with being in the presence of the Holy One and the recipient of His directives.

In Luke 4:4, Jesus has gone into the wilderness for 40 days to fast and pray at the onset of His earthly ministry. The evil one has followed Him there and taunted Him at the point of His physical weakness. The devil showed Him the kingdoms of the earth and assured Him that they would be His if He will but bow before satan.

Jesus rejected this easy route to the salvation of mankind. Jesus knew that the plan that had been in place from the foundation of the earth (see Revelation 13:8) demanded that He be “the Lamb slain…”

The devil challenged Jesus to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple, assuring Him that the angels will “hold Him up, lest He dash His foot against a stone,” Psalm 91:12. At this point, Jesus told him that one must never tempt the Lord your God (see Matthew 4:7, Luke 4:12).

In the final temptation, satan addressed Jesus' hunger from His 40 day fast. The Lord rejected this temptation as well, saying, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God,” Luke 4:4.

We see the importance of the Word of God in both these passages. We see the importance of hearing it and knowing it and obeying it. We see the assurance of the Holy One that He is guiding and guarding His people even as He did Moses, and that He gives power to believers to overcome the evil one even as Jesus did.

How can we, believers today, in a world that is fraught with disdain for our faith and our Savior, not cling steadfastly to the Word that He has given to us? We cannot. WE MUST HOLD FAST TO JESUS, THE ETERNAL, LIVING AND TRUE WORD OF GOD!