Ps 12:6 THE WORDS OF THE LORD ARE PURE

THE WORDS OF THE LORD ARE PURE

“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times”

Ps 12:6

God’s word is solid silver leaving any and all impurities behind, refined 7 times. In the Bible, 7 times is as complete as you can get! This is an incredible assurance for the child of God whose whole hope for the future is based on the promises made to him in God’s word. God’s word is pure, actually the only reliable word in the world.

This is the information age, if you will. There is more knowledge available and more words floating around than ever before, but when it comes to the matters of the soul, only God’s word is solid silver. For example, knowing that a dragonfly only lives 24 hours is an interesting statistic, but it does nothing for my soul.

There is also a flood of theological knowledge available today in books and pamphlets and on the Internet. Unfortunately, not all of it is silver. You see, people in their pride cannot keep from trying to improve on God’s word with the impurities of their own reason. They find God’s arithmetic horrible: 1 + 1 + 1 = 1! To them God’s logic defies common sense: The righteous are saved by grace but the wicked “worketh his own destruction.” The result is a theology that corrupts God’s word to make it reasonable and pleasing. That was true even at the time of our Lord. Jesus roundly condemned the theology of the religious leaders of His day because they dramatically contaminated the Word with human wisdom.

The age of the Apostle Paul was an “information age” too. Greek philosophers and psychologists were employing every brain cell to discover what was really true. It was as important then as it is today to rule out all the impurities of reason by simply clinging to the pure Word. That is why that little congregation founded by St. Paul at Berea has been such a wonderful example. It is reported “they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things (that the Apostle preached) were so.” God’s word was pure silver to them.

How are we to decide what to believe? Pray the Spirit to etch these words firmly on your heart: “The words of the Lord are pure words. That is why we hear them and learn them and meditate on them. If some words seem puzzling, the problem is with our limited faith and not with the pure word. God did not give us his word to puzzle us, but to strengthen our faith in Him. If, after searching the Scriptures, we still have questions, we know that we can ask our Lord when we are finally with Him in heaven.