Americans typically use about 5,000 words in their speech and about twice that many in their writing. Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary contains over 470,000 entries. Wow! How very little I know of my own language is apparent with each round of Balderdash or when watching video reports of the National Spelling Bee.
“Unabridged” is a funny word to find beside the title of a dictionary. The term is used more as a claim of thoroughness than of sovereignty, as if to say, “We are the most complete dictionary,” and not, “Herein lies the exhaustive listing of all known English words.” The team working toward the task of composing or updating a dictionary knows better than most that a complete and unabridged glossary of terms simply is not possible. For starters, one single book could not house every word in the English language. It could hardly keep up with the claim; new words (640 just through April of 2019) are forever emerging: “ghrelin” (the hunger hormone, regulating the distribution and rate of energy) and “ludology” (the study of video games and game playing … really!?!) are two of the more recent additions to the dictionary. Words also occasionally atrophy and die from lack of use. The world of words is evidently a vast and active place.
In the Scriptures, when God called Moses to go and speak with the people of Israel under slavery in Egypt, Moses was all too aware that he did not have the words within him for the task. “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” (Exodus 4:10-12) Yet Moses still asked God to send someone else to do it.
Most of us can, in some way, relate to his heartfelt plea. According to several surveys, public speaking is the greatest fear of the vast majority, a phobia ranked even above the fear of death. And speaking for God would certainly increase the anxiety. Many of the prophets chosen by God to be His voice among the people spoke of the weight of such a task, coupled with the concern of speaking to a world that did not want to hear. Each time the prophet was reminded similarly: The God who set the world in place with a word will surely put the words in your mouth. Jesus likewise instructed the disciples in their ministering, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.” (Luke 21:15)
The vast and daunting world of words is met with this thought. God is still the Giver of words and wisdom. Whether speaking for God or of God - or speaking at all - all wisdom is God’s wisdom. So, Paul appropriately asks the people of Ephesus to pray, “also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” (Ephesians 6:19) That the words of our mouths may be pleasing in God’s sight is a prayer that leads God’s own again and again to his Word. “If you abide in me,” said Jesus to the disciples before He went to the cross, “and my words abide in you.” (John 15:7) His words are vaster and more active than any dictionary. They are wisdom unabridged.
The God who speaks and who asks us to speak offers wisdom in the person of His Son, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3) He gives us the assurance that we are heard by the Father, and given the promise of the Spirit to help us with words. The God who set the world in place with creative and commanding words still speaks.
~ Pastor Mullinax
