Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

GIVEN YOUR WORD

January 12, 2010

"To give your word," is meant to make a promise, and keep it. It may also affect how we understand God's Word.

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But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return the way you came.'"
- 1 Kings 13:8,9 TNIV
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Throughout the Bible, occasionally we come upon a strange story. I Kings 13 is one of those occasions. A man of God hears God's Word come to him and gives him a message, a job to do. He sets out to do it, but a number of events happen not only to interrupt his mission, but temptations contrary to the message, to the Word of the Lord. The notion is that the Word of the Lord can be thwarted, modified, or disobeyed. In the short run, maybe; in the long run, no way! The story teaches the Word of the Lord will come to pass, and we are to honor it.

God has given us a word to live by. In the short run, we seemingly can thwart it, even disobey it. But count on this, the Word of the Lord will come to pass. God's given us his Word!
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson