i think for most of my life, i didn’t know words to communicate with. i often left people wondering what in the world i was talking about, not to mention my own frustration at wondering why i felt so misunderstood. Our intentions are communicated in words as well as actions and if we only act, not allowing anyone our words, the silence of our mouths propels the exclusion of others, the very relationships we desperately need.
When we want to communicate our ideas and thoughts to others, we’ve got to learn to communicate, to position ourselves as someone others want to engage with. We must learn to articulate “utterance”. The listener only actually knows what’s going on in our minds when they hear us express ourselves in audible words. If we don’t give them words then we are subject to them filling in the blanks with only what they’ve imagined, which may not go too well if you know what i mean. Sure, we can surmise and maybe even accurately speculate what’s going on with someone, but when they actually put words to it, ahh, then we’ve got something to go on. We may have the impulse to direct someone to turn left or right, or ask a friend to deliver food, but it’s really not enough to simply grunt at people and point, we must communicate our thoughts to them.
With God, He has a number of individual ways through which He communicates His will. When His will is carried out, it is described as His “utterance”. One utterance from Him caused light to come into being. Another produced Heaven and earth in all its fullness, and yet another generated animal and human life and so on and so on, you get the picture.
There is a difference between God’s utterances when He presented the 10 commandments, and when He inclines His heart toward us. i’ve been told that the 10 commandments had to be heard, which involved a “crescendo of sound”, which even to this day, we all hear and are still moved. Many times the Lord doesn’t “speak” to us with vocal chords, mouth, and tongue, but He “speaks” in the sense that a voice and words are heard, as in saying, “He made me to know”. When we speak, our voice only runs just so far before the momentum of our breath just falls to the ground. When God speaks, it doesn’t stop being said, whether it’s through circumstances, or actual vocalization, it does not cease. We can pretend we are powerful enough to set prophetic markers in the earth, but without His voice, our markers quickly fade and fall.
i believe that at the time of creation, there was no need for anyone to “hear”, and it’s the truth, no human being existed that was capable of hearing. So, in light of that, His utterance was simply that His will became reality. His answer, whether by vision, provision, or direct reply is an “utterance”. Incidentally, “vision” is seeing, insight, and understanding, and PRO-vision is anything He gives which supports the advancement of the vision. His appointments and biddings are His utterance. His promises and pronouncements are His utterances. The Lord’s subduing of enemies, His teaching, telling, and ideas communicated to us are His utterances. God is not silent, i believe it is us who aren’t catching His drift.
In Psalm 62:11, it says “God has spoken, twice i heard.” The Hebrew word for “spoken” doesn’t mean words given once in the past tense, or as a plural verb, but in the sense of dual action, it is spoken and then comes again unceasing. The word “heard” is used in a complimentary sense that God’s utterance was heard and heard again. Like saying, God said, He very said, and i heard, then i really heard what i heard. In Genesis 1:3, when the Lord uttered, or spoke, the idea that His speaking is also a calling. Whatever the Lord calls, becomes. God’s voice is the ONLY voice to which all things obey.
More than a few times i’ve felt powerful and very spiritual, and in an effort to prove my power to myself i walked outside, and in my most commanding voice, i uttered, “Mountains, be thou removed into the sea.” Of course in my very best King James English in order to sound as authentic as possible. i was taking it seriously what Jesus said in Matthew 21:21, and i was feeling pretty full of myself. Upon yelling that at the mountain, well, nothing happened. In my heart i found myself think, “Yea, i didn’t think so.” Years later, the Lord spoke to me, “me” being slightly self-important, thinking more highly of himself than i should, and asked me why i thought the mountain didn’t move. i had to reply, “Only you know Lord.” He made me to know that it was because His voice was not in my voice for that occasion, and the mountain only responds to His utterance. Oh.
What do you think?