In Jeremiah 1:12 we see the importance of God’s Word to God himself
A few years ago I took a course on how to reach goals. One of the most important takeaways from the class was the necessity of keeping attention on goals.
That is nothing new, of course, but the stress that the instructor placed on it and the variety of ways suggested to do it made an impression on me. He taught that I should have in my schedule a weekly appointment to review my goals and my progress. I should also have a monthly, quarterly, and annual appointment. Furthermore, I should post goals in unmissable places like bathroom mirrors and kitchen cabinets.
I found that the course instructor is right. When you keep goals at the center of your attention, the likelihood of reaching them increases.
Jeremiah 1:12
This is a faint illustration in a fallible human way of what God does in a perfect way. God told his prophet Jeremiah, “I am watching over my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12).
Humans have limited ability to perform most things and to keep many things in their attention. God, on the other hand, has infinite power to do anything he has decided to do, and he can maintain an infinite number of things in his attention. He does not need to put yellow sticky notes on the arms of the throne in heaven to remind himself what to do in your life.
God’s declaration in Jeremiah 1:12, “I am watching over my word to perform it,” tells us two things about God’s relationship with his own words.
1. How God feels about his words
God’s words are infinitely important to him. “You have exalted above all things your name and your word” (Psalm 138:2).
When a woman’s hair is important to her, it affects her conduct. She looks in the mirror often. She spends lots of money at the salon and time in the bathroom in the morning getting her hair just right. When a man’s wardrobe or muscles are important to him, it affects his conduct in similar ways. Whatever is most important to us dramatically affects how we spend our time, attention, money, and energy.
Jeremiah 1:12 shows us that God’s Words are of ultimate importance to him. Ultimate importance. Ultimate, maximum importance. We cannot conceive how important his words are to him because even the most conscientious and honest souls on earth cannot begin to respect their own words the way God respects his own.
That is because he is perfectly truthful and absolutely faithful. There are no stray words from God. No filler words. No throwaway words. And no unintended, accidental words or forgotten words. He cannot lie, cannot prevaricate, cannot deceive.
God comes to humanity with a breathtaking forthrightness and says it as it is, boldly, clearly. His every word is precisely chosen, like the words of a poet, only infinitely more so. God knows every sense of every word of every language in heaven and on earth. He speaks his words knowing past, present, and future, knowing everything about everyone and all that is.
If words had material weight, one of his words would tip the scales with more weight than all the matter in the universe. One sentence from God placed atop the earth would crush it to powder. “Is not my word…like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces,” said the Lord to Jeremiah (23:29).
2. What God does with his words
And with these words God makes promises, predicts the future, and creates what will be out of nothing.
Like a wise legislator working his purposes in the world through the crafting of good laws, God works through his righteous words.
As a good lawyer writing a fair contract, God says what he will do and what we can expect.
Like an athlete predicting a victory, God says what he will accomplish.
And like a blacksmith working through his hammer, God works through his all-powerful words.
According to Jeremiah 1:12 God performs his words. He executes his words in his time, in his way, according to his will. His words are his glory. His words display his name. They unfold his wondrous character and divine nature.
The Lord claims, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10–11)
God’s words perform, and God performs his words.
God’s attention on God’s Word
And these are the words in which you put your trust when you pray and believe. Are these words reliable? Are these words worthy of your trust? Can you depend on them?
Yes, he stands behind them infinitely more than the most highly principled business men or women stand behind their guarantee. You can take God’s Word, rightly understood and applied, to the bank.
“I am watching over my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12).
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)