A second creation
"HE SENDS OUT HIS COMMAND TO THE EARTH... HE DECLARES HIS WORD TO JACOB..." PSALM 147:15, 19
God gives his word to two specific parties in this psalm, to the earth (15-18) and to his people (19-20). Nature and grace mirror each other in many ways, and the parallel here is unmistakable and striking: they are both under the power of his word.
The word of God is a creative force. He creates what he speaks in the very act of speaking it. No sooner are the words uttered but the realities snap into existence. How did God create the earth? By speaking. "He spoke, and it came to be." (Ps 33:9). How does he create his people? By speaking. "You have been born again...through the living and abiding word of God." (1 Pet 1:23).
God's people are a second creation. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." (2 Cor 5:17). Redeemed souls become worlds of God's creative power and genius, pulled into his gracious orbit, and put on display before men and angels and devils.
His creative word to us is the gospel: "this word is the good news that was preached to you" (1 Pet 1:25). The good news of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners is the power of God to make shattered souls into new creatures, and to craft believers by and by into the image of his beloved Son. Place yourself and your family under its creative forces often.