Proverbs 16:20. Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
Sometimes the two lines of a proverb are meant to say opposite things. Sometimes they are meant to say the same thing, just in a different way. That’s what this proverb is doing – saying the same thing twice, but in two different ways. What does this mean? It means that to give thought to the word is the same as trusting the Lord.
If you want to learn to trust God more and more you must think about the word of God. The Bible. Whether we like it or not, the Bible is the primary way that we know about God. It’s how we know what God is like. His character. His deeds. Most importantly, his salvation. His love for us. From the Bible we know the God who knows us.
What do you give thought to all day? What do you daydream about? Worry about? Look forward to? Dread? All of us are giving thought to something all of the time. Are those thoughts good, or are the evil? We can’t stop wicked thoughts from coming to us. But we can replace them with good thoughts. Good thoughts that come from giving thought to the word.
The bottom line is that something is determining your thought life. Thoughts aren’t just created inside of us from a blank slate. Negative and wicked thoughts are implanted in us from the outside. From the TV news. Talk radio. Social media. Listening to gossip. Negative friends.
The Word of God alone is a perfect source of good. The narratives are good. The commandments are good. The wisdom is good. The warnings are good. The encouragements are good. The prophecies are good. The people in the Bible are all bad (except one), but the Bible is all good. Why? Because everything in the Bible teaches us that we have a good God. In the end the Bible is good news!
Of course Jesus, the living Word of God incarnate is our greatest good. He is ultimate good, ultimate fullness, ultimate completion, perfect, and restoration. Christ is the fulfillment of everything in the written word. All of God’s redemptive story culminates in Jesus; his death for us on the cross, and his resurrection for us from the grave. That’s how we know that the Bible, the written word, is good, because, Jesus, the living Word is good. In the end we know we can trust the Bible and we know we can trust God because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Having the living Word in us by our union with Christ means that we can now read the written word without fear of failure or pride in success. In Christ the written word shows us what we already are, not what we must become. And that is good.
Have you discovered this goodness in your reading of the word? The goodness of DONE over DO? The goodness of the gospel of grace? The goodness of Christ in me the hope of glory? The goodness of no condemnation in Christ because we have died to the law? The goodness of to live is Christ?
You: What outside source controls your thought life? The Word? OR something else?
You in Christ: How can you intentionally seek Christ in the pages of scripture? Does reading the Bible help you to see God’s goodness in our union with Christ, or are you looking for something else from scripture? Read 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 to help you.
Christ in you: How can you make reading, studying, and meditating on the goodness of God in the word of God a priority?
Pray: Father, thank you for your word of goodness poured into me by the Spirit of the living Word, your son, Jesus. Keep me in your word as my only true source of goodness. Amen.
To Live is Christ 