The Surgeon's Cutting Knife

Hebrews 4-Part 2
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.   Hebrews 4:12

LET IT GLOW

I have had surgery four times in which I was cut open. It was a good thing that I was cut by the surgeon's knife. The result was worth all the pain I later went through. Two times was in order to deliver my two babies. Yes, the pain of recovery was worth it, when I held my sweet little ones in my arms. God's Word is like that surgeon's cutting knife. It slices through my layers of sin and stabs me in the heart, my soul. Let's take a closer look at how the writer of Hebrews describes God's Word.

First, the Word of God is quick. The Greek word for quick is zao, which means "to live, have life."
Second, the Word of God is powerful. The Greek word for powerful is energes, which means "energetic."

I have found God's Word to be alive and energetic, powerful.
In John 17:17, Jesus prayed: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
This means we can take it to the bank. It is God's revelation to us; He is breathing words to us, telling us things He wants us to hear and know.

In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren says,

"The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the Son of God. To become like Jesus, we must fill our lives with His Word. God's Word is unlike any other word. It is alive."

John 6:63 (NASB) says, The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Warren continues to say:

"When God speaks, things change. Everything around you-all of creation-exists because God said it. He spoke it all into existence. Without God's Word you would not even be alive. James 1:18 ( New Century Version) says, God decided to give us life through the word of truth so we might be the most important of all the things he made.
The Bible is far more than a doctrinal guidebook. God's Word generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the Devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms circumstances, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, infuses hope, releases power, cleases our minds, brings things into being, and guarantees our future forever! We cannot live without the Word of God! god's Word is the spiritual nourishment you must have to fulfill your purpose.The Bible is called our milk, bread, solid food, and sweet dessert."

LET IT GROW

What else does verse 12 say about God's Word? What surgery does it talk about?

• It's sharper than a two-edged sword. The Greek translation of sword means "a short sword or dagger." (Wiersbe) It cuts us open; exposes our heart as it goes in and cuts out the sin and unbelief as it comes out. "Nothing in the human heart is able to escape the gaze of God," says Shepherd's Notes.
• It penetrates even to dividing the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, thought and attitudes of the heart. (NIV)  There's no part of us that it cannot penetrate. It reaches into the inner secrets of our mind.

John Gill said, "As a surgeon, who makes a wound sorer by probing and opening it, to let out the matter and make way for his medicine, He (God) cut and wounds, and gives pain and uneasiness, by the sharp two-edged sword of the Word, and by His Spirit making use of it; and lays open all the corruption of nature, and brings to repentance and humiliation for all transgressions; and then pours in the oil and wine of pardoning grace and mercy, and binds up the wounds that are made."

God is my heart surgeon. His Word cuts me  open, plum to the heart, and exposes my sins so I can repent and He can pour in healing grace and mercy, then sews me back up, but the scare is always there as a reminder of my transgressions. Now that's a good thing, friends. It means I am His child when I get disciplined.
Hebrews 12:5-6 quotes other scriptures, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou aret rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. (Job 5:17 and Psalm 94:12)


Verse 13 tells us that no one can hide from God's sight. Also, all things are naked and opened unto His eyes.


Verse 13b, in the NIV says, Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Sooner or later we will have to give an account of our words, actions, and decisions. I may as well confess my sins now instead of later to the Lord Jesus.


LET IT GO

Believe God's Word as truth.

Let the Word do its work in my life.

Let go and let God.

Let it change me as it operates on my inner being.