“Is not my word....like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces"
God has a hammer and it is His word. The good news is that He has put this hammer into our hands. When we sing “if I had a hammer,” we don’t need to look far for the hammer. A lot of you reading this article are probably like me, you have a lot of Bibles at your house in several different translations. If people don’t have that hammer today, it is not the fault of Bible publishers. When you go into any Christian bookstore, there will usually be several shelves of Bibles in all of the various English translations. There will also be a wealth of study Bibles with the notes of famous Christians in the margins. We don’t need to wonder what we would do if we had a hammer. We might need to wonder what in the world we are doing with this hammer, and of what use is it if we don’t pick it up and use it? Jeremiah wrote: “Is not my word….like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.” A hammer can be used to break things as mentioned in the text. When we think of a hammer, we probably think of a claw hammer, or a ball peen hammer. Right now I’m thinking of a seventy-five pound air hammer. When I was on the work crew at Norman College back in 1961, Mr. Parks, our boss, introduced me to this hammer. The concrete floor that we were breaking up could not have been done by a claw or ball peen hammer or even a sledge hammer. It took this air hammer to do it. When I picture God’s word as being a hammer that breaks things up, I think of that seventy-five pound air hammer. I think of that particular type of hammer, not just because it could break up some serious rock, but because you had to let it do the work. If you try to do the work for the air hammer, it will throw you all over the room, as one of my buddies found out. If we will heed the Bible and its teachings in our lives, the Holy Spirit who inspired it will work its power in our lives. We don’t need to add to it, it has all we need to build our lives on. A hammer can also be used to build or fix things. I do not own a lot of tools, because I am not much of a repairman, but I do own a hammer because a hammer is just needed to fix so many things. The hammer of God’s word can be used to fix anything that needs to be done. I want to give a couple of examples of what I mean. We need the hammer of God’s word to build positive relationships in our families. It is said that “the family that prays together stays together.” We can add that “the family that reads the Bible together stays together.” This applies to our relationships to people that we encounter in daily life, at work, or play or wherever. It definitely applies to building positive relationships in our churches. The Bible could cure a lot of church problems if we would just pay attention to what it says. We need the hammer of the word of God to build and fix things in our lives. It is true that all of us “have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This doesn’t mean however that we should give up, because God has given us His word to help us overcome sin in our lives. We need to use the hammer of God’s word to smash the things that are wrong in our lives and to build, or repair, the things that should be right in our lives. We need the hammer of the word of God to fix things in our society. The trouble is that today the Bible cannot be used, or seen, in public places. We need a return to the word of God as part of our society. By that I do not mean the various books of the various religions or sects. I mean the Holy Bible that we have in our homes. When the word of God is preached, taught and lived it can break the things that need to be broken, build the things that need to be built, and fix the things that need to be fixed. But you actually have to use it - if you get my drift. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|