Words Don’t Mean That Much To Me
Isaiah 29:13-16 Amplified Bible (AMP)
13 And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips but remove their hearts and minds far from Me, and their fear and reverence for Me are a commandment of men that is learned by repetition [without any thought as to the meaning], 14 Therefore, behold! I will again do marvelous things with this people, marvelous and astonishing things; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their discerning men will vanish or be hidden. 15 Woe to those who [seek to] hide deep from the Lord their counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? Who knows us? 16 [Oh, your perversity!] You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be considered of no more account than the clay? Shall the thing that is made say of its maker, He did not make me; or the thing that is formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?
Last week my daughter and I were up late cooking for an event. I usually let her listen to her music within reason, to keep her going and motivated as we pull those long late night hours. I like some of her generation’s music, but it is nothing like what I grew up on, but as we approached midnight, a song came on her computer that I recognized and actually like it is a song entitled “Words” by Bobby Valentino, as I sang along and the song came to the chorus, that spoke the devotional’s title words, “Words don’t mean that much to me.” As the song came to an end and those words kept playing over and over in my mind. I thought of my own my life and how many times I had relied on people’s words and been disappointed, let down, lied to and deceived. This was a lesson I had to learn, this was not a lesson that I just knew right away. I was prone to believe the best in people and to believe that people were who they said they were and they would follow through with what they promised to do. I had to learn that the heart is often deceitfully wicked and selfish in its motivation and will lead a person to say things it really doesn’t mean to get its way. I thought about how many times words were used as a ways to a means or weapons. I have had to learn words don’t mean much; it is the behavior, actions, motives and living that to me means the most to me. It is at the heart of who we are.
The irony is we don’t just do this with people we do this with God. We tell Him how much we love Him, but we don’t obey Him. We say how much we need Him but we don’t spend any time with Him. We tell Him how much we want to know Him, but we don’t study His Word, His works or His ways. Our words are all in but our life is all out. Why do we feel that words will have the same effect on God that they do on people? Why do we feel we can pull the wool over God’s eyes like we can a human being? Why do we feel that our words will hide the true intent of our heart and the truth of our thoughts? We forget that God knows the very intent of our hearts and our thoughts. He knows our beginning from our end and everything in-between. We should desire truth inside and out as God desires it of us, but human nature often leads us to do things that make it easy on our flesh and does not challenge us to do better or be better. But the God in us, the spiritual part of us, the part of us that is connected to God should desire to walk in integrity, truth, and that our words should line up with what is in our hearts, minds and spirits.
Proverbs 10:19 states, “In a multitude of words transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent.” My motto often is I can show you better than I can tell you. Sometimes some of us need to study to be silent and just do the will of God and live in the obedience of God instead of talking about how much we actually aren’t really doing. Let the words that we do speak, be acceptable in His sight and let them be ones that touch His heart, and are truth and spoken in integrity. But let us not stop there, let our works and behaviors do the same, even where it concerns mankind. Give your words meaning, by meaning what you say and doing what you mean and say!
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