Words

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14 NASB).

Words have always fascinated me. I remember sitting as a young child in front of the bookcase in the living room floor whiling away the hours lost in the pages of my family’s set of the World Book Encyclopedia. Almost ten years ago, my purchase of a republication of Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary made me remember my fascination with words as well as the change of values in our country since 1828. As I began using this epic dictionary, I noticed that a stark difference existed between the definitions found in the 1828 dictionary and the modern version of the same dictionary. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary was replete with words whose meanings were steeped in a culture that valued Christ. Many of the definitions featured scripture references that helped the reader relate the meaning of any word to familiar knowledge of the Word. In comparison, today’s dictionaries leave much to be desired—at least for someone with a Christian world view—because the world has attempted to expunge the Word from the dictionary. The irony of this removal of the Word should not be lost.  As John 1:1-3 reminds us, the Word preceded and created all that we know, including the very ability we have to speak: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” The words we use daily should glorify our creator and bring Him honor, yet words are freely tossed about and used without thought of offense, and new words that show the defection of our culture away from the Word of life are being created. Forgotten is the Proverb that says, “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances” (Prov. 25:11 NASB). If you want to discover what our society values, simply look at the words that define it.