Applying The Psalms (Psalm 12)

The value of the Lord’s words

“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”

Psalm 12:6

     Many years ago my family and I travelled to Calgary, Canada where Dad met with a congregation to discuss a possible move. The trip became a sort of working vacation for us. One day we went to the zoo. Once you park you have to walk over a bridge to reach the entrance. Looking down from the bridge at the water beneath offered a truly amazing site. The water, flowing right out of the Rocky Mountains, was so pure and clean that we could see the riverbed itself. As someone who has been around the Ohio River all of his life you can imagine my amazement. It looked as though there couldn’t be more than a foot of water when in reality it was more than ten feet deep. Even then we could see the bottom as clearly as if the surface of the water was a window to everything beneath. To this day when I think of purity I tend to think of the Bow River in Calgary, Canada.

     David said that the words of the Lord are as pure as silver refined in a furnace seven times. This immediately makes me think of the value of God’s Word. If I had walked down to the riverbank with a bowl, filled it with water from the river, and attempted to sell it no one would buy. As clean as it was there wasn’t any real value in it. But suppose I filled my bowl with the purest silver refined seven times to where it gleamed brilliantly? It would not be difficult for me to sell the contents of that bowl for a tremendous price because its contents would be so valuable. Of even greater value than that purified silver are the words of God. After speaking of the law, testimony, precepts, commandments, and rules of the Lord, David says, “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10)  Later we read, “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and sliver pieces.” (Psalm 119:72). Do you find God’s Word to be this valuable?

     Psalm 12:6 also informs of us of the certainty of God’s Word. Considering the symbolic use of numbers in Hebrew writing we recognize the number seven to be the number of completeness and perfection. David said the words of the Lord are like silver refined seven times. They are perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. There is nothing that man needs to add to God’s Word to make it worthwhile or valuable. Every promise of His will be fulfilled exactly as He has said because He has said. 

     The words of God will lead us directly to Heaven if they are followed correctly. With salvation and a home with Him in eternity as their fruit, what could be more valuable than the words of the Lord?