The potency of speech

Words have power. Have you noticed?

Of course you have. Because someone once said something to you that had a profound effect on you. You were hurting, feeling lonely, bruised – and someone spoke one of those ‘words in season’ that healed. Or, maybe, you were in a season of sin: proud, arrogant, unrepentant – and someone spoke a timely word that came with the power of conviction and caused you to turn back to God.

We’ve all had those kinds of experiences. We’ve also all had negative ones, when the words spoken to us (or even by us) caused hurt and pain or pushed people into sin, perhaps provoking an ungodly response that could have been avoided if only we had thought more carefully. Words have power.

Sieghart’s prescription

For my birthday, Mrs R bought me a book of poetry called The Poetry Pharmacy by William Sieghart. It’s a collection of poems which he ‘prescribes’ for various conditions. The concept is simple – Sieghart has made a living from travelling up and down Britain offering consultations helping people through various crises and difficulties with a well-chosen verse.

It’s a fascinating concept. Words can heal, Sieghart believes. And, of course, in one sense he’s exactly right. Words, especially when they’re collected together well into beautiful or timely sentences or verses, have an extraordinary power and ability to connect with the emotions.

The medicine of melody

It’s one of the reasons that singing forms such an important part of Christian worship and discipleship. Memorable words stick with us and do us good … whether it’s John Newton’s Amazing Grace or Stormzy’s Blinded by your Grace.

At school, my cynical maths teacher bemoaned the fact that I seemed unable to remember simple formulae whilst I managed to retain the words of hymns and songs that I happily sang at church. But the truth is that those words I treasured ministered to me in a way that a solution to a quadratic equation never could.

The power of words to affect us in this way should come as no surprise to Christians. After all, God is a speaking God. He speaks the world into existence and the Son sustains all things ‘by His powerful word.’ Indeed, Jesus’s very name is ‘the Word of God.’ Our new birth, says James, comes ‘by the word of truth.’ Creation. Sustaining. New birth. These are unimaginably powerful events formed by words.

So what?

Some applications are obvious. Firstly, all Christians do well to continue to listen to the words of God. Our regular commitment to scripture is not, therefore, a quaint throwback to a golden age. It is at the very heart of discipleship. God still speaks and Christians still listen. There is power there.

Second, we must also recognise the power of our own words. We cannot create, or create anew, in the way that God can. But the Bible is clear that our words – just as Mr Sieghart recognises – carry extraordinary power, both positively and negatively.

A good word

Recently, I was teaching European church leaders about words from the book of Proverbs. There are over 120 proverbs on the subject of speech, each of which carries encouragement and conviction. Collecting them together was an interesting exercise because I began to see emerging themes: it matters as much, for example, how you speak and when you speak as the actual words that you speak. ‘He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend’ (Proverbs 22:11).

Today, a good word from you may make the difference to a brother or sister. A word held back by you may be equally effective. And in today’s fast-paced, immediate-response world of FaceBook, Twitter and texts, it matters more than ever that we take care with our powerful words.