So much meaning rides on the words we write, use, hear, and read. And the meaning we give these words, in turn, leads to understanding or misunderstanding. Beginning on the first page of the Bible there is one word that I had heard for ages, but which only recently hit me in a way that is healing: the word let.
In the creation story in the first chapter of Genesis in the King James Version of the Bible that word appears 14 times. We read, for instance: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Later on, we read: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Let has many meanings, but in this case it means to permit, to allow, to acknowledge; in other words, it is the showing forth of a preexisting reality or truth. God is infinitely good, so it’s natural that He should let His creation—each of us—express that goodness freely.
A more terrestrial example might be: “Will someone please let the dog in?” That statement presumes there is a dog that wants in, there is a door to be opened, and someone willing to open that door. All the elements are already there; it’s just a matter of “letting.”
