God’s Word Is Never Wasted (Isaiah 55:10-11)
By: Betsy St. Amant Haddox
Today’s Bible Verse: “For 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 (ESV)
I lead a small group for women who are single or “single again” (after divorce). The most recent time we met at our favorite pizza place to fellowship, I brought along a bag, a handful of pens, and two different colored sticky notepads. I gave everyone a green sticky note and told them to write a Bible verse—any verse at all. It could be one that popped in their head, one that was memorized, one they looked up just then, or one that had been a favorite over the years. No context, no guidelines, just a verse! When they finished, I folded them all up and put them in the bag.
Then I handed out the pink sticky notes and instructed them to write a prayer request—something they were currently dealing with in their life. I folded them up, added them to the bag, and mixed them around.
The mission? To show how God’s Word applies to everything in our life!
Now it was time for the moment of truth. I proceeded to draw one pink and one green note from the bag and laid them on the table between us. One problem, one verse. And wouldn’t you know it, every single time I did the random drawing, the verse plucked from the bag matched up perfectly with the prayer request! We poured over each verse, pulling as much as we could from it, amazed at the depth of how everything worked together.
On the way to meet my group that night, I was a little nervous about my plan. Part of me was afraid the verses wouldn’t make sense with the prayer requests, or that we’d have to really reach to make it connect or show applicable to our lives. But of course, it worked out perfectly, because as I was reminded—God’s Word never returns void. It’s living and active, and sufficient for everything we need! Glory to God!
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
God’s Word promises that it won’t fail. We shouldn’t ever exclusively rely on “random” drawings or “flipping open the Bible and seeing which verse our finger points to” type methods of Scripture reading. But even in those more desperate moments, God has proven over and over how He orchestrates scriptures to be exactly what is needed. Nothing is outside His scope of influence and control. We can trust Him and trust His Word.
My group can’t wait to do that exercise again. Those ladies, many of whom are walking through hard storms right now relationally, left the pizza place feeling loved, seen, and highly encouraged. God—and His Word—is so good.
Betsy St. Amant Haddox is the author of more than fifteen inspirational romance novels and novellas. She resides in north Louisiana with her hero of a hubby, two total-opposite young daughters, a vast collection of coffee mugs, and an impressive stash of Pickle chips. Betsy has a B.A. in Communications and a deep-rooted passion for seeing women restored in Christ. When she’s not sweating it out at Camp Gladiator or trying to prove unicorns are real, Betsy can usually be found somewhere in the vicinity of a white-chocolate mocha—no whip. Look for her upcoming novel with Revell, Tacos for Two, in October. Visit her at http://www.betsystamant.com.
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