Speak, O Lord
There aren’t many songs that focus directly on God speaking to us through his word. One of the best in my view is Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s Speak, O Lord – a song we often sing at church. Here’s how the second verse begins: “Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility; Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity.” Imagine what would happen if God answered those requests!
Yet even such lines hardly prepare us for what Psalm 29 has to say about God speaking: “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars … The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert … The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare” (verses 5, 7, 8, 9). Imagine that kind of power at work in your life! Yet that’s exactly what is available every time I expose myself to God’s word – whether that’s reading it on my own, discussing it with others or hearing it proclaimed.
And the truth is, I need that kind of power to change my proud heart and bend my stubborn will – if I am ever to learn full obedience to the Lord, holy reverence for the Lord and true humility before the Lord. God does not speak merely to inform us, but to change us – and always for the better. The question is, do I expect that to happen? Do I want that to happen? Will I ask God to do that?