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Hosea 14:2a KJV
Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him….

What is a word? A few squiggles and lines on a written page? Or a few vibrations that form some sounds, gone the instant they are said, dissipated into thin air. Thought of in this way, they seem so paltry and insignificant!
Yet the prophet of old made a recommendation to the people to take only a few WORDS to the most consequential meeting they would ever have, with God himself.
Why? What is it about lowly words that make them so crucial and commends them for use in such a special setting. If they are so important, where else could their power and efficacy be seen and heard? Does it matter what language, or exact order, or timbre in which they are spoken? Why did Hosea not recommend the use of charts and graphs, or sacrifices and offerings? What of weapons? What of proofs of good and great deeds? Why no specifications as to appropriate dress or other preparations with which to go into this encounter?
No, just a few WORDS, spoken in humility. He recommended a request. A plea. A promise. Not long excuses, or explanations. Not threats. Not negotiations. Not criticisms. Not corrections.
“I’m sorry.” Please forgive me.” “I love you and I always will.” That is the essence of the words with which Hosea suggested they go to their Heavenly Father. Simple. Plain. But powerful in their effect. We can still do that today. God hears WORDS. in any language and any context, He hears our Words.
But there is another lesson here.”I’m sorry.” Please forgive me.” “I love you and I always will.” Are those words so much different than the words needed, today, in a million relationships in this sin-filled world? Imagine the healing contained in these words, expressed a billion times throughout the earth. How many estranged sons, daughters, wives, husbands, dads, moms, and friends could draw close again? I believe that it would be incredible!
It’s true that we don’t control the world. But, each in our place, we CAN use these same words here, now, in our own relationships. These words have power. They have astounding healing power when expressed from a sincere heart.
What if I am not there yet? What if I can’t say the words from a totally sincere heart? I would like to, but my heart is yet too hard? I will suggest that expressing the words, audibly and with purpose, can make them true. The words themselves have Power, and as I express them they take root in my heart and become true. Try it. If one of your relationships needs those words inserted into it, do so. Today.
Proverbs 25:11 KJV
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Words can be destructive too. We know that. They have power to heal, and they have power to destroy. I once visited with a man who told me, agonizing, that his dad had told him, 25 years earlier, “you were a mistake”. Four words, uttered in a thoughtless 2 seconds. Resulting in 25 years of pain. That is the power of words. I felt the pain and my heart ached for the man, and for the little boy inside him, still reeling from those four words. I hope that he heard Hosea’s prescribed words, or something like them, before his father died. If he didn’t, know this: the Heavenly Father we serve has words for us that can heal the deepest pain, if we but listen to them.
Imagine with me for a little while that we each carry with us a bucket filled with words. We fill our buckets each morning with the words we will use that day. Some fill their buckets carefully and thoughtfully, some haphazardly, some maliciously and cruelly. As we go about through the day we spread the words that we filled our bucket with that morning. And the words we spread live on! What do we leave in our wake? Do our words spring up into lovely places of peace and loveliness? Do they just litter the ground? Do some of them even spread rot and putrify in the place we dropped them? Do some grow up into weeds and poisonous plants?
Let’s fill our buckets with worthy words. Words that count for the good. Words that heal, that encourage. Then we can spread them freely and without guilt. We can plant peace and joy and love and encouragement.
Words do live on, sometimes for a very long time. Let’s sow them carefully.