Did God Really Say That?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty,

darkness was over the surface of the deep,

and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, … (Genesis 1)

And God said. If you’re like me, you probably never thought twice about these three little words in Genesis Chapter 1. We read right past them to see what God said. But then I learned better. Now, I can’t stress enough how these three little words are the basis for everything that follows. With these words, everything changed.

Nicola Tesla once said, “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration. Sounds or words are simply energy, frequency and vibrations.”

Did you know that everything vibrates? You don’t see it, but all of the molecules that make up a dog or a tree or a person or water, they are always in constant motion. When you speak, vibrations go forth from your mouth and impact everything they come in contact with.

For those of us who were not that “into” our 9th grade physics class, I’ll remind you that this idea about frequencies and vibrations is actually a basic physics concept. Think in terms of a wave–like when you skip a rock on a lake. The rock causes a wave or frequency to emanate from the place where it hits the water, and that wave or frequency impacts everything in its path; thus, a small duck floating in the water may feel a gentle movement under him as a wave passes by. Literally, the energy from the wave rearranges everything in its path. As the wave hits the duck in the water, the duck, who also is vibrating at a certain frequency, is impacted and in turn, the duck’s waves and frequencies bounce back and spread out impacting everything they come into contact with. There is always a constant interaction of energy and frequencies. There is constant motion and constant change.

Our words do the same thing. They go forth as waves and frequencies and vibrations and they impact everything around us. As strange as it may seem to some, there have been scientific studies that show that speaking kindly to plants actually encourages them to grow.

In an article from The Guardian in January 2021, Dr Dominique Hes, biophilia expert and lead researcher at Horticulture Innovation Australia’s Plant Life Balance explained this phenomenon: “Smithsonian and Nasa studies show that mild vibrations increase growth in plants while harsher, stronger vibrations have a negative effect,” “The vibrations improve communication and photosynthesis, which improves growth and the ability to fight infection. You could say the plants are happy!”

If our words are impacting plants, just imagine what is happening with the people we talk to.

Proverbs 15:4 says, Gentle words bring life and health;…

Proverbs 11:9 says, Evil words destroy one’s friends;...

We have always been trained to think of these verses in abstract or metaphysical terms, but couldn’t we better understand the power of our words if we think of these verses in terms of basic physics?

The Hebrew word for “word” is “debar.” Interestingly, Debar can also mean “deed” or an action. In Hebrew, words are not just what someone says but what someone does. Words do something. They bring into being. They make something happen. They build up and they tear down.

Is this why our Bibles say that death and life are in the power of the tongue? Just like with plants, our words literally promote life or death.

Because of this basic reality of our universe, the Bible admonishes us to choose our words careful

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In fact, Proverbs 17:27 says, Intelligent people choose their words carefully.

There is also another interesting way to look at “And God said….”

Hebrew only has two verb tenses: one is for actions that have been completed and one is for actions that are ongoing?

The word “said” in “and God said…” is ongoing. It is not something that God did in the past and it’s done. His word literally continues to reverberate throughout the universe– its energy, frequencies and vibrations are still impacting our world. In fact, some believe that it is His word that literally sustains our world and without it, everything collapses.

The book of Hebrews chapter 1 seems to hint at this very idea of God sustaining the world through His word.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

“And God said”— such power, such promise in just three little words.