Words for Creation before Communication

David W Palmer

In this series, we are looking at the power of our words and what we can use them to do:

(Mark 11:23 NKJV) “… he will have whatever he says.”

(Proverbs 18:21 NKJV) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

We begin today by looking at God’s use of spoken words—especially his first mention of him speaking:

(Genesis 1:1–3 NKJV) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. {2} The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. {3} Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

In his wisdom from his brilliant mind, God wrote his word to include the “Law of first mention.” This means that the way something operated in his word when he first mentioned it is very significant; it shows his wisdom for the way he intends it to be understood and/or used thereafter. In God’s first mention of spoken words, “Let there be light,” we see that he used his words for creation.

We especially note that God didn’t use his words first to communicate, chat, teach, or even instruct. He certainly didn’t use his first mentioned spoken words to describe what already was. If this was his primary use of words, his Bible could have said: “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. … Then God said, ‘It’s deathly dark and there is formless void everywhere!’”

Thankfully, God didn’t use his words to describe his circumstances, clarify his situation, excuse his predicament, justify his plight, or to communicate the current state of affairs; this may have described it perfectly and solicited much “feel good” sympathy, but it would not have changed or improved anything.

God could have used this first mention of words to teach all about the darkness, formlessness, and void, and then gone on to explain how it happened. No. Praise the Lord. He first used words to change a dark, formless, void, situation to light. And then he kept speaking creatively, bringing life, form, and fullness to what initially existed. The circumstances became what he spoke from the inner image he saw inside himself of what he believed it could become (See: Genesis 1:4–21).

What type of spoken words did God next mention? After speaking creatively several times, God then spoke words of blessing:

(Genesis 1:22 NKJV) And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

This shows us that God’s second use of words was to speak blessing, bringing wellbeing, fruitfulness, and multiplication. Jesus spoke blessing over the loaves and fish before they multiplied. So, for us to speak blessing is of secondary importance behind words that change the prevailing by creating what is good.

Then, after some more creative statements about creatures, God spoke the pinnacle of his creative statements:

(Genesis 1:26, NKJV) Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

After creating man, God again spoke blessing, this time including dominion:

(Genesis 1:28–29 NKJV) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

And then God spoke communication, teaching, and instruction:

(Genesis 1:29 NKJV) And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”

It wasn’t until Genesis 2:17 that God spoke rules, prohibition, guidelines, behaviour advice/instruction or taught about maintaining freedom:

(Genesis 2:16–17 NKJV) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; {17} but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Then God began to speak about relationship:

(Genesis 2:18 NKJV) And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Again, even when acknowledging a problem, “It is not good that man should be alone,” God did not simply use his words to describe the problem and leave it as it was. He immediately used his words to articulate / create a solution:

(Genesis 2:18 AMP) Now the Lord God said, “It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart] who is suitable and complementary for him.”

We see in God’s opening passage of his word that before he spoke his first recorded words, “Let there be light,” the Holy Spirit was “hovering”:

(Genesis 1:1–3 NKJV) … And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. {3} Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

This means that God’s Spirit was moving, hovering, brooding. In other words, he was expectant, waiting, attentive to Father, poised to act, and seemingly ready to give birth to something. Later through Jeremiah, God shows us how this works:

(Jeremiah 1:12 ESV) … “I am watching over my word to perform it.”

God’s Spirit was waiting for God’s word, so he could go into action with his infinite power and wisdom to create and bring to pass exactly what God’s articulated words described. In other words, the Holy Spirit will enact, create, change current circumstances, or shape what exists to come into line with what the living word says.

Today, for us, all of this means that we need to be like God with the use of our words. Let’s follow his example of not describing our current circumstances or problems—especially if they are dark, void, formless, negative, out of order, cursed, or sick. No, let’s use our words to speak creatively—describing what God has in his heart for this situation. Speak that which is edifying, ministers grace, changes the undesirable, brings to order the disordered, reverses the curse, or creates ideal circumstances:

(Ephesians 4:29 AKJV) Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.

Next, we can speak blessing over people, creatures, and things. And then we can use our words for communication, teaching, description, instruction, etc. I encourage you; begin right now. Start speaking creative life and light into every area of your life that is sick, dark, out of control, going in the wrong direction, or stuck. Speak to it creatively telling it exactly how God says it should be: “body, you are healed by the stripes of Jesus.” “Finances, you are blessed.” “Family you are in order.” “Church, you are growing, full of love and life, cooperative, pure, and spotless … a holy bride for Christ,” etc.

(Matthew 16:19 NKJV) “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”