Value of God’s Word

This program was created from the following episodes:
 

"An Unlikely Convert, Day 2"

"The Gospel in Psalm 119"

"The Truth about Emotions"

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Dannah Gresh: Late one night I stood in my barn and shouted this verse: 

If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, therefore, You are feared, my soul waits, and on Your word I put my hope.

There was a method to my madness. And it was all God’s doing. Today, we’ll talk about the value of reading and knowing God’s Word.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh. 

Do you remember the first time you heard the Word of God read aloud? You might have been a toddler wrapped in the arms of your mom or dad, or maybe you went to a local Vacation Bible School, or perhaps you were in your thirties and the lady next door invited you to a Bible study at her church. Do remember that moment?

Have you ever stopped to think about the power of simply reading the Bible? Today, you and I are going to sit in the wonder of the words written in your Bible. They are living and active; they are sharper than any two-edged sword, and through these words countless lives have been changed. 

I want to share the story of one woman whose life was dramatically changed. Her name is Rosaria Butterfield. Before she was a Christian, Rosaria was a tenured professor at Syracuse University, a feminist, a lesbian, and vert vocal about her feelings toward Christians. She didn’t like them! 

But through a chain of events that only God could orchestrate, Ken and Floy Smith, a pastor and his wife, welcomed Rosaria into their home for a meal. They received her as Christ had received them. They ended up having her over again and again and having endless conversations with her. In the meantime, Rosaria was reading the Bible, and it was starting to turn her life upside down. 

Rosaria Butterfield: I'm reading the Bible for a research project. My post-tenure book, I thought, would be an analysis of the "Christian Right" from a lesbian/feminist point of view, undermining the Bible to have any authority.

My friends, of course, knew that I was reading the Bible. The gay and lesbian community is a community highly given to hospitality, so my home was open constantly for people who wanted to talk through ideas and issues—students, faculty members, neighbors. 

One night of the week was special. In the lesbian and gay community, it's standard to designate one night of the week to be open to everyone. And so, Thursday night, pretty much anyone who needed to come over would, and I would serve a big dinner, and we would just talk.

My friends let me know, one particular Thursday night, that this Bible reading was changing me, and they were concerned.

Nancy: Did you know that it was? Could you tell?

Rosaria: Well, you know, I'm a bookish kind of woman, and every research project changes me, so I did know that, but it didn't register until a transgendered friend really put the question in a pointed way.

I went back into the kitchen, probably to get another bottle of wine and to get some more bowls for pasta filled, and this is what she said. She sat down, and she said, "Rosaria, before you go back in that dining room and serve again and talk, I just need to talk to you. I'm worried for you. This Bible reading is changing you. I'm really concerned."

Nancy: And your response was?

Rosaria: It's funny . . . has this ever happened to you, where a friend will make an observation, and you're such a workaholic, so busy, so keyed-up, that you haven't asked the right questions. So you can't get the right answers out.

I hadn't observed that or asked it in that way and her concern for me, it opened up something in me. I realized that I did have a question that I was afraid to articulate—even to me. But she was a trusted friend, and so I said (I give pseudonyms in the book; I call her Jay in the book), "Jay, this is just a research question, but what if it's true? What if it's true that Jesus is a real and risen Lord? What if we are all in trouble?"

What Jay said to me, when I said that, was, "Well, I know that. I was a Presbyterian minister for fifteen years. If you'd like, I'll pray for you, that Jesus would heal you. I prayed that for myself, but He never did," she said.

Nancy: Wow. So there was some history there.

Rosaria: Yeah, that was a really powerful moment, for a number of reasons. One is that, it sort of gave me a secret, tacit permission to keep reading the Bible. Because here was this dear friend, unbeknownst to me, who had rooted around in this Book for a life purpose and help, so that was really powerful.

But there was something about her use of the word "healing" that really bothered me. I believed "gay is good." I did not believe that I needed healing. I found that word to be patronizing and pathological.

I also didn't like that this Jesus didn't "heal" (whatever that meant!) Jay, if she prayed for it. I mean, who was this God who heals some but not others? That's not fair!

But, finally, it made me realize (I had read the Bible through a few times at that point) that the Bible actually didn't say that I needed healing. The Bible said I needed repentance unto life! And I didn't like those terms, either.

So, I left that conversation disoriented and disrupted, but motivated to keep reading and to keep searching.

Nancy: And it was bringing you face-to-face with this sin issue, this heart issue, that wasn't homosexuality, it wasn't any ideology, there was an underlying heart issue.

Rosaria: That is true, though I was a little afraid to go there. That is absolutely right.

Nancy: It sounds like you were starting to sense it, though. "What if something's wrong?" And that something wrong, you were to going to come to see, was sin.

Rosaria: That is exactly right, but I really didn't like the terms of this discussion at all!

Nancy: And you continued talking about the Bible with your friends Ken and Floy.

Rosaria: Oh, absolutely! Ken and Floy were my faithful weekly . . When I look back on it now as a Christian, it looks like a discipling relationship, because that's what it was.

Nancy: And as you talked with them, certainly they knew your belief system and your background. How did they deal with this whole issue of your lesbianism?

Rosaria: You know, that's a great question. It's a funny thing. I think people presume, here's this evangelical pastor and here's this lesbian activist, so obviously, we must have just been hashing it out over Romans 1, over dinner, every night.

That's not what happened at all. Instead, what really happened, what Ken and Floy Smith did, was they realized that being a lesbian was not the biggest sin in my life, being an unbeliever was!

So they lived and shared the gospel, and they modeled for me how to apply a life of faith to the fallen world and the many trials, and the many trials which people living in a fallen world face and we struggle with. 

Dannah: Oh, I’m starting to get chills! I am so encouraged to hear how God works in other people's lives. Aren’t you? 

So you get the picture, right? Rosaria Butterfield is reading the Bible. It’s changing her, and the people around her are starting to notice. Then Rosaria started to attend Ken and Floy’s church, and she felt something she didn’t expect to feel . . . welcome and love.

Rosaria: I did. I was drawn into the service. I was drawn in by the music. I started college as a music major, so I love to sing. The Reformed Presbyterian Church sings psalms acappella, and I can sight read, and I found the music to be beautiful. 

But the message was disarming. So I found myself continuing to go back to hear more messages, to work through some of these deep questions. One of those deep questions that was really hitting hard for me was, I wanted God to show me on my terms why homosexuality was a sin.

It occurred to me, as Ken was preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, that what the Bible was calling everyone to do was to submit in heart to the will of God first, and then ask our questions later.

One of the things that the authority of God would suggest is that, if there is no one higher than God, it was not my right to ask that question of God. Indeed, the opposite was true. God had the right to interrogate my life and my culture.

Dannah: I just love this. Hearing how God pulled Rosaria to Himself. So beautiful. 

Sunday after Sunday Rosaria attended Ken’s church. She listened and she questioned and she struggled to understand God and how He could become Lord of her life. Then came the Sunday it all changed.

There wasn't a lot of resolution, because very quickly, right on the heels of one Lord's Day would come another Lord's Day! In this next Lord's Day, we were singing from Psalm 119, line 56, and it went like this: "This is mine because forever all Thy precepts I preserve." All of a sudden, after I sang that one phrase, I immediately stopped singing, put the psalter down, opened my Bible and checked to see if the psalter had some wacky misprint in it, because that verse really scared me!

And the Bible represented it like this, "This has become mine . . ." There was something about that language that was my complete undoing. First, the Holy Spirit had just convicted me of sin, and I was actually in tune enough with the Holy Spirit to notice it.

Because this Bible was not mine! I had cursed it and spurned it and demeaned it and condemned it and taught thousands of undergraduates to do the same! There was no way that I could stand in any kind of a claim that this Bible was mine. I was condemned by saying that. It was a lie!

But the second thing that sort of dismantled me was, I realized that when I said those words, I really meant them. I wanted that Bible to be mine!

Nancy: "This has become mine."

Rosaria: I wanted those sixty-six books and that unified biblical revelation to be mine. And when I sang, "This is mine," in corporate singing, I was really attesting to one simple truth: The line of communication that God has ordained for His people is found in the Word of God.

I not only wanted that, but I wanted God to hear my prayers. And everything came tumbling down at that moment. It was very painful, because I really thought that I had been on the side of kindness and compassion and justice, diversity, goodness, care, and even morality.

It was my complete undoing to realize that it was actually Jesus I had been persecuting the whole time. Not just some historical figure named Jesus, but my Jesus—my Prophet, my Priest, my King, my Savior, my Friend . . . that Jesus!

Dannah: Rosaria Butterfield’s entire testimony and conversation with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth can be heard on our website. Go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend, and we’ll have a link there. Oh friend, I hope you were encouraged by hearing how God used the reading and even the singing of Scripture to capture Rosaria Butterfield’s heart.

The Word of God is definitely active and so much sharper than any two-edged sword. We find those words in Hebrews 4:12, and they are so true! I’ll share how God’s Word has been alive in my life, but before I do, you know, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth taught through Psalm 119 over the the new year a few years ago. 

Remember, it was the singing of Psalm 119 that opened Rosaria’s eyes and mind. While Nancy taught through this passage, she wanted us to capture just how powerful God’s Word is and to remind us of the power in our lives when we take the time to read the Bible. Here’s Nancy. 

Nancy: I want you to just see this portrait of Christ in Psalm 119. He perfectly fulfilled every resolution. The psalmist made all these resolutions: I will obey you, I will keep Your law. Jesus fulfilled them and in that we see a portrait of Him. 

But there is more than that. Does it remind you of an incident in Jesus’ childhood when you read verse 99 that says, “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.” Does that remind you of Jesus at the temple at age twelve confounding the teachers of the law? 

Then we see many verses in Psalm 119 that I think are a portrait of the perfect obedience of Christ.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. (v. 30)

I will keep you law continually forever and ever. (v. 44)

I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. (v. 47)

I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. (v. 60)

I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. (v. 147)

Does that remind you of something in the life of Christ? Mark 1, verse 35, after a long day of ministry, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, and went to a quiet place and prayed." He was seeking His father. “Rise before dawn and cry for help.” It is a picture of Christ. 

My eyes shed streams of tears because people do not keep your law. (v. 136)

Remember Jesus weeping over Jerusalem? Weeping over the tomb of Lazarus, seeing the consequences of sin and death. "My eyes shed streams of tears." When I read that I think, “I don’t have that kind of heart, but Jesus does.” That is why I need Him.

My zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words. (v. 139)

Does that bring to mind a picture seen in Jesus’ life? The cleansing of the temple, throwing out the money changers. “My zeal, zeal for my father’s house has consumed me.” 

It is time for the Lord to act for your law has been broken. (v. 126)

Do you think Jesus was maybe even reciting that scripture to himself as he cleansed the temple? I don’t have that kind of zeal for God but Jesus does.

Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning. I remember your name in the night O LORD, and keep your law. (vv. 54–55)

Can you think of a night when Jesus sang? The night of the Last Supper, the night in which He was betrayed. So as they were heading to Gethsemane, they sang a hymn. Do you think that is significant? Why did God inspire the writing of that little detail? Because Jesus was fulfilling the old covenant. “Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning."

Then think of the betrayal of the Son of God when you read this in Psalm 119.

The insolent have dug pitfalls for me. They do not live according to Your law. (v. 85) 

And then think of the passion of Christ, the trial of Christ, when you read these verses in Psalm 119,

Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law. (v. 61) 

The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts.” (v. 69)

The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies. (v. 95)

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies. (v. 157)

And even this verse in Psalm 119,

It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. (v. 71)

Does that apply to Christ? How about Hebrews 5, verse 8 that tells us the Son of God "learned obedience by the things which He suffered." Ladies, this is a picture, a portrait in many senses of Christ. 

All Your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! (v. 88)

Could he not have spoken or recited those words on the cross?

I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors. (v. 121)

My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? (Mark 15:34)

Trouble and anguis have found me out, but your commandments are my delight. (v. 143) 

In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth. (v. 88)

Could that be anticipating the resurrection?

Let those who fear you turn to me, that they may know your testimonies. (v. 79)

Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice because I have hoped in your word. (v. 74) 

Has that not been fulfilled in Christ?

Well, Christ is the only who fully fulfilled the law of God and perfectly obeyed God’s Word. We see His portrait here, and we are reminded as we get these glimpses of how desperately we need Him. 

God will use His Word to seek your heart, to draw you back, to restore you, to bring you back to a safe place, back to the Shepherd, back to the fold, back to Christ.

Dannah: Oh, friend, God will use His Word to seek your heart, to draw you back, to restore you, to bring you to a safe place. Nancy taught this passage at the beginning of a new year. She wanted to spur women on in their study of the Word of God. 

You have to know the Word of God so that when the bad emotions fall on you, what has been put in you helps you to put on the Truth. I had a moment of putting on the Truth at a time where I was having a bit of an emotional meltdown. I'm not generally prone to extreme emotional immaturity—but I have my moments. I was thick in a battle like that when I had to decide to turn to the Word of God. In fact, I shared how I did that with a crowd of like-minded sisters at one of Revive Our Hearts’ national conferences a couple of years ago.

In fact, let’s pull up that audio and listen together.

Dannah (True Woman Conference): I don't know if you've ever had one of those days or months or summers where just a lot of things converge, and you come to a breaking point. I came to that point, and I got to a place where I just couldn't think on anything good. All I could think on was all the bad. Have you been there?

I am a woman who can sleep. Nothing wakes me up, and I can sleep long and hard. So when I don't sleep, and when I become sleepless, it is because my emotions have gone out of control.

So I laid down in bed one night, and it was 10:00, and the emotions started to get thick, and the darkness started to make them so pronounced. It just fell on me so heavy.

I remember sitting there and thinking, My life is terrible. I'm a bad mom. I'm a bad wife. I'm a bad teacher. I'm a bad blonde. (laughter) You name it. And the thing is, it was a deep, thick heaviness.

I had to choose to put on what I had already put in me, and I have spent time in my life memorizing Scripture for times like this. But I wasn't using it.

And so I laid there in bed. I can't really show you this . . . I’m going to, as modestly as I can, because I need to show you this. [Dannah lays on the floor.] I'm laying in my bed and, you know, have you ever been there where just the darkness is heavy, holding you down. Right? And I'm laying in that bed, and the Lord is saying to me, “Put on what you put in you. Put on what you put in you.”

And I'm crying, and I am shaking with fear of the future.

And the Lord says to me, “Hey, a woman of God smiles at the future.”

And I'm, like, “I got nothing to smile about, Jesus.”

I'm searching my memory bank for Scripture, and suddenly . . . I was feeling very sinful, I should mention. (laughter) That's part of it.

And so suddenly, Psalm 130 comes to mind: “If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who can stand?” (v. 3 NIV).

And all I could do was whisper it. And I said it over and over. I was, like, “Lord, is this verse going to sink in? Because I think this is the one.”

And then the next thing I knew I was feeling a little bit of it, and so I sat up in the dark, hoping that I didn't wake Bob with my whispers.

(In a whispered voice:) “If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who can stand? If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand?”

And then I thought, “Okay, I need to say this out loud because maybe—maybe—if my ears hear it clearly, I'm going to start to feel it because I'm not feeling it.”

So I drug myself to the bathroom, and I looked in the mirror. “If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? For with You there is forgiveness and therefore You are feared. My soul waits and in his word I put my hope. O, Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning” (vv. 3–6 paraphrased).

(Sounds of letting out breath.) And then I felt, like, “I’ve got to say this full out loud.” (laughter)

So I walked downstairs, turned on the fireplace, “If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins who could stand?”

And I felt my backbone straightening. I felt my spirit getting stronger. And then I thought, You know, I need to shout this out loud. (laughter)

So I walked out to my barn. (It was a bit of a temptation, because there were baby goats out there, and that could also help with peace, love, and joy.) And I held a baby goat in my arm. (That poor little thing, because I began to praise the Lord.)

If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, therefore, You are feared, my soul waits, and on Your word I put my hope. More than watchmen wait for the morning—more than watchmen wait for the morning—put your hope in the Lord for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption. (cheers and applause)

And I want you to know something: I was feeling it. I was feeling the unfailing love. I was feeling the forgiveness. I was feeling the full redemption. Full redemption, Sisters! That is better than Walmart's guarantee. (cheers)

I was feeling it because I had put His Word in me, then I could put it on me. But I had to do the work of it, Sisters. I had to do the work of it, Sisters. You have to do the work of it, Sisters. 

Dannah: Put it in you so you can put it on you, my friend. We need the Word so we can put it in control of our emotions.

The Word of God changes lives. It softens hearts; it consoles, strengthens. Friend, get in The Book. Friend, I hope you can hear that as passion from my heart to yours. God’s Word is so important to me. He is so important. I have based how I live my life on His words. I hope you will too.

If our time today has left you wondering and questioning and wanting to know more about God, I strongly suggest you spend one month in the Psalms with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. Nancy’s written the devotional A 30-Day Walk with God in the Psalms. Please order that today and begin your journey of falling in love with the precious words of God. Order A 30-Day Walk with God in the Psalms by calling 1-800-569-5959, or go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and click on today’s episode. 

Next week is Pastor’s Appreciation weekend, and we’ll be talking about how to encourage your pastor’s wife. She needs it as much as he does, maybe even more.

Thanks for listening today. Thanks to our production team, and for Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh.

Revive Our Hearts is calling women to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.

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