God's word will not return empty: Is 55:10-11

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Have you ever known anyone who could talk and talk and talk and never really say anything? God is not like that. When God speaks, He speaks with a purpose. Every word spoken by God is spoken to accomplish some purpose of His. When God speaks, things happen. The Bible speaks in many places of the power of the word of God, here are just a few.

“‘Is not My word like fire?’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer which shatters a rock?’” (Jeremiah 23:29) This scripture reminds us that the word of God is able to break even the hardest hearts of stone.

“The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve and strips the forests bare.” (Psalms 29:9) The voice of the Lord is able to make the deer to give birth. Spiritually, God’s word also is able to cause us to give birth to the things of the spirit in our own lives. God’s word is also able to strip us bare of our outward attempts to appear righteous before God, separating vain religion from genuine love for God.

“The word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing.” (Colossians 1:5-6) We are evidence that the word of God is not powerless, but able to change us and cause us to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.

So why does God need to remind us that His word is able to perform that for which it was sent? The reason is that sometimes, from our perspective, there can be a long time between the word of God going forth and the actual appearing of the purposes for which it was sent. Sometimes God speaks, and then we must wait for the fulfillment of what was spoken. Consider Joseph. He received a promise from God that his parents and his brothers would all bow before him. Shortly after receiving this word, he was sold as a slave to Potiphar and, later, thrown into jail for a crime he did not commit. “He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters,
He himself was laid in irons; until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.” (Psalms 105:17-19) Joseph had received the word of God, yet it would take many years for that word to come to pass. In the meantime, “the word of God tested him.” He was tested by the word to see if he would remain faithful and he would continue to believe the word even if he could not see any evidence of its fulfillment.

God’s word will never fall short; it will never fail in the purpose for which it was sent. Circumstances may seem contrary to the word, but it is God’s word that will prevail, not our circumstances. What God is looking for is our faith. Will we believe His word, even when it tests us over time? If God has spoken to you, never let go, but hold fast to what He has spoken. In time, He will bring it to pass. Nothing is able to resist the word of the Lord.

David Robison