Praise His Word

“In God will I praise [his] word: in the LORD will I praise [his] word.” (Ps 56:10 AV)

The phraseology of this verse is intriguing.  One would think the order would be reversed.  Because of God’s word, we will praise Him.  This makes complete sense.  Yet, David makes an important theological argument that God and His word are to be seen as one and the same.  As another Psalmist states, “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” (Ps 138:2 AV)  When one thinks of how God brought the material world into existence, He spake it and it was done.  All that God created was done by speaking.  Why?  The preeminence of the word of God is a universal doctrine upon which the veracity of the written word stands.  I don’t think David is praising the word of God as separate and apart from the person of God and is worthy of praise because of it.  Rather, he is acknowledging that the written word of God and the person of God should be held in the same regard.

The word of God is a miracle.  By its very existence, it testifies to the might and power of God.  Existing eternally, yet inspired by God through man over a period of four thousand years it has remained perfect to every joy and tittle.  Only since the modern age of reason has doubt been cast on the reliability and perfection of God’s word.  Man, who is never as smart as he thinks he is, chooses to believe his senses rather than the supernatural acts of God.  It does not dawn on the philosopher that if God created all things from nothing, then surely He can inspire and preserve His word, perfect, throughout the existence of man.  In disputing the eternal and sovereign might of God, the philosopher has shown himself to be of shallow intellect and vacant of all reasonable truth.  The intellectual theologian will dispute God’s ability to provide His word perfect, even in the translation process when translation occurs in the narrative of the word of God itself.  Joseph speaks Egyptian to his brothers and is translated into Hebrew for his brothers.  Paul speaks Hebrew to his audience in Acts 22, yet it is inspired in Greek.  A good portion of the dialogue of both the old and new testaments was not spoken in the languages of the inspired word of God.  In assuming perfection is lost in the translation process, the intelligent become simpletons.   It really boils down to faith.  If God exists; if God created; if God created to know; if God created to know He also created to be known; if God created to been known, the way by which He is known must be as perfect as He is.  Thus, providing His word perfect and without error so that we can know a God who is perfect and without error is the only reasonable conclusion to be made.

I think David is praising the word of God because it is the extension of God to man by which man may know Him!  In praising the word of God, David is grateful for the word of God that is perfect and without error.  It is the means by which the sinner can know his or her creator.  It is the means by which we can learn why God created us and how we are to live according to the Creator’s design.  Those who would argue for no perfect word of God are shorting themselves.  The life of those who do not believe the word of God is praiseworthy can only live to the degree they disbelieve in the perfection of the word of God.  I am with David!  I praise the word of God because it exists.  It exists perfectly and without error.  In a world that is constantly changing and nothing can be taken for granted, the word of God is an anchor for the soul.  No wonder the troubles of man only mount.  We stray further and further from God and His word.  Rather than praise the word of God, we critique it.  Rather than trust every single word without requiring it to subject itself to our intelligence, we stammer along in our own value system and crash because of it.  I praise God’s word.  I praise God for His word!