The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psalms 119:130
The entrance… These first two words of Psalm 119:130 reveal an important truth. The light which Yah’s Word produces in us is not automatic. His Word must first enter us before light is produced. More specifically, His light must enter our hearts. No entry, no light. No light, no understanding.
The question then becomes, who determines or controls access to our heart? Is Yahuah, Himself, responsible for opening our hearts to His Word? After all, He is omnipotent, all powerful. Surely, He is sovereignly able to override and overcome the darkness of our hearts.
Not My Responsibility
I write fictitiously… I know that it is Yah’s responsibility alone to pour His Word into my heart and transform me with His light. I’m believing, yet not seeing victory in my life. But this has nothing to do with me, my actions and inactions. Deep down in my heart, I know, just know that this Bible thing just does not work. If it did, then why have I faithfully given tithes and offering all these years, but I am still in the same mess that I was in ten years ago? I see no change in me, in my relationships, in my circumstances? WHY HASN’T YAH CHANGED ME?!!!
Now, let’s look at Yah’s Word to disprove the false conclusions that I wrote above. Again, we’re answering, who is responsible for opening our hearts to Yah’s Word to receive the entrance of Yah’s Word and thereby receive His light? We will begin with two prophets and end with the words of the Messiah.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Yahuah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Hosea 10:12
For thus saith Yahuah to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Jeremiah 4:3
The fallow ground in these two verses in Scripture represents the heart. We see in these prophets’ exhortations, that it is incumbent upon us and not the Almighty to open our hearts to receive Yah’s Word and thereby receive His light. To do so, we have to have both ears to hear His word and hearts to obey His Word.
Heart Ear Connection
Yahusha our Messiah further illustrates the results of not having both of these two prequalifying factors to receiving Yah’s light. He taught the parable of the sower.
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell INTO good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Matthew 13:3-9
Good Ground
Yahusha goes on to give the meaning of the parable to his disciples. Notice the heart/hearing connection.
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Matthew 13:18-23
We see that for Yah’s Word to produce light in us, we not only have to hear His Word, His Word has to also penetrate and reside in our heart which is represented by the good ground. Only then does His Word produce the fruit that our Creator both inspects and expects.
Fruit Necessities
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Matthew 7:19
Natural fruit needs light to grow. We also need light to produce the spiritual fruit that Yahusha speaks of. If we do not open up our hearts to the entrance of Yah’s Word, we never receive light to produce fruit.
But the fruit of the Ruach is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
And where does that light come from?
The entrance of thy words giveth light;
Sheeple
No entrance, no light. No light, no understanding. No understanding, no fruit. Bottom line, we are all like simple, clueless sheep when we do not have Yah’s Word growing and springing forth in our heart.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Yahuah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
This prophetic verse in Isaiah speaks of the Messiah who is the light of the World as He is the Word of Yah made flesh in this earth realm.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
Then spake Yahusha again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 8:12
Yahuah has created us with the capacity to receive His living Word, but it is up to us to open up our hearts to His Word. How do we do that?
How to Receive Yah’s Word into Our Heart
First, we have to know what His Word says. To do this, we at the very least, make it a priority to regularly read His Word for ourselves. I have a free Bible reading plan on the Revelation for Living website.
Yet if we stop at reading and even hearing His Word, it will not have entered our hearts. Have you ever had or heard this conversation when you were in church? I have been like Person 1.
Person 1: “Pastor sure preached a good message today.”
Person 2: “He sure did!”
Later that day or even the next day to a different person.
Person 1: “My pastor sure preached a good message at church”
Person 3: “He did? Tell me about it. What was it about?”
Person 1: “Um… well… GRACE! It was about grace. Yeah, that’s what he preached.”
Person 3: “Oh that sounds interesting. I need more grace. Tell me more about what he said.”
Person 1: “Um…. well… I can’t remember all that he actually said, but I just know it was a good message. I was so uplifted and inspired when I left church.
Doers Receive and Give
We can only give what we have. This person heard the Word, but clearly it had not entered their heart. Otherwise, they would have been able to speak more about the details of the message as well as specific application of the Word. If we forget the Word of Yah that we hear, then can we say that His Word has entered our heart?
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
James 1:22-25
Unlike Person 1 in the scenario above, we have to go further. Once we know what Yah’s Word says, we must agree with His Word for His Word to gain entrance into our heart. Our actions speak of our agreement.
Agreement Required
Can you think of any area or activity of life, that grants or permits entrance or access without agreement? For example, if you want to be on a team, be associated with an organization, share the same dwelling, live in a country, etc. you have to abide by the rules or laws. Even if the rules are unspoken, you still have to agree to them to gain entrance.
Yah does not force His Word on us. He’s waiting for us to agree with His Word. Only then does His Word enter our heart and produce His light.
How do we agree with His Word? Every time we do what He says to do in His Word, we agree with His Word.
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
Amos 3:3
The Proof is In the Walk
Have you ever heard this catchy phrase?
He can talk a good game.
In other words, talk is cheap. Can you produce? In our case, are we producing fruit? The proof is in the fruit. Having or not having fruit is connected to what we do, which is evidenced in our actions, our walk. In Book 2 of the series of Bible Studies on First Samuel 5 and 6, I wrote about the relationship between our walk and Yah’s light.
Only Yah’s light is capable of nourishing the kind of fruit that He desires to see.
Let’s look at a practical example of how Yah’s Word enters our heart. Let’s say that Person 1 from our scenario has a desire to grow the fruits of the Ruach of longsuffering and gentleness.
Let’s say that in their daily Bible reading, they see the verse:
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
The Ruach Qodesh draws their attention to this verse and they immediately realize that this is an area in which that they need transformation. So they pray to Abba to help them apply this verse in their life. And He answers their prayer.
Answered Prayer
The next day, they are running late for work, again. Their supervisor has talked to them a couple times about their tardiness. Their daily commute takes about 35 minutes. They barely have enough time to get there on time.
So they book it on the highway, making pretty good time, passing all the slower traffic in the right lane. But then it happens. They drive up behind a slow driver in the fast lane, just taking their sweet time, oblivious to their dilemma. THEY CAN’T be late again!!!
So, they immediately yell grievous words, I mean start blowing and blowing their horn to get the slow driver out of the way. Don’t they know that the right lane if for slow traffic?!!!!
Their incessant blowing stirred up wrath in the driver of the slow car who tries to out blow them and slows down even more. At this point our religious person is boiling. Both cars move down the highway belting a symphony of horns, moving at what feels like to our religious person, parade speed.
FINALLY, there is an opening in traffic in the right lane and our religious person zooms past. But not before rolling down their window to salute the slow driver with a hand gesture full of gentleness and longsuffering.
The Question Is…
Did Proverbs 15:1 gain entrance to this person’s heart after reading this verse and even praying about it? Was Yah’s light able to get into their heart to produce fruit? Based on the fruit shown and the Word of Yah, the righteous judgment would have to be, “no.”
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psalms 119:130
We have all come short of agreeing with Yah’s Word in one way or another. This is not cause to pause our walk. Instead, we repent and with a made up mind and specific-focused prayers for help, we endeavor to pass the next test that Yah brings our way. Often, we don’t realize at the time, but assuredly, more tests do come in the very same area that we failed to pass.
Promotion or Stagnation
There are no social promotions in the Kingdom of Yah. This term, “social promotion” was used in US schools in the past. If a student could not pass a grade year after year, but they were getting older, they would be promoted due to their age. For example, it would be awkward to have a 15 year old in a 3rd grade class.
Well, Yah’s school of the Ruach does not operate that way. He loves us too much to allow us to pass through life unequipped. If our religious person above were a real person, they could count on having more opportunities to develop the gentleness and longsuffering that they, themselves, asked Yah to help them to develop.
Be Careful What You Ask For
Their prayer is like an irrevocable vow to Yah. He’s going to see to getting it answered to the end, either producing fruit or the end of the person’s life. Hopefully, they would not spend their whole life going around the same mountain called, “Wrath.”
Yah did the same for Israel in the wilderness. Moses wrote these words about Israel’s experience:
Then said Yahuah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Exodus 16:4
And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for Elohim is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Exodus 20:20
And thou shalt remember all the way which Yahuah thy Elohim led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deuteronomy 8:2
Israel had the Word of Yah that would have produced in them the light that they needed to deal with the upcoming darkness. There were giants and all kinds of wickedness in the Promised Land that Israel need to righteously deal with (precisely according to Yah’s instructions).
Lip Service
However, they never opened their hearts to receive His light. They spoke agreement with Yah’s Word.
And all the people answered together, and said, All that Yahuah hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto Yahuah.
Exodus 19:8
But they never opened their hearts for Yah’s Word to enter to produce fruit.
Wherefore Yahuah said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Isaiah 29:13
Both in the wilderness and in the days of Isaiah, they gave Yah lip and not heart service. Therefore, in the wilderness, they never grew the fruit necessary to be properly equipped to face what was ahead of them in Canaan. Sadly, Israel kept going in circles year after year, because they never passed the tests.
The Irony of the Fruit
I find it ironic that when the spies returned from surveilling the land in Numbers 13, they brought back natural fruit. Yet, Israel lacked the spiritual fruit that would have enabled them to possess their inheritance.
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
Numbers 13:26-27
Beloved, I speak first to myself and then to you. Let this not be our testimony. With fervor, let us daily yield to opening our hearts to Yah’s Word which produces light within us. The light of Yah in our life is not optional. We have to have, we must have His light. Pursue His Living Word today that the entrance of His Word would bring light.
