In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness... (John 1:1-5).
God's Word speaks to each of us. It comes individually to human consciousness in many ways—actually in as many ways as there are individual needs and individual perceptions. The divine Word may, like the thunder of Sinai, shake us to the very core of our being; or like a "still small voice," bring quiet and comfort to a troubled heart. It may descend softly, like the dove at Jesus' baptism, coming to us on wings of grace, perhaps at a time of great personal trial—coming to help us see that truly God is our Father and that He is embracing us even now. Or, God's Word may strike in thought like the lightning of heaven, "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," Heb. 4:12 when healing or direction is urgently needed in a crisis.
Yet the divine Word is not a physical action or a material phenomenon. It isn't really heard with the human ear or seen by the human eye. It is known in consciousness, communicated directly to our inherent spiritual sense. God's Word comes to us as a conscious awareness of divine intelligence, conveying itself through spiritual intuitions of what is genuinely good and true and pure.
