“But the word of God is not chained.” This sentence from our epistle grabs me and won’t let go. From the time the canon of Christian Scripture was agreed upon by Christian leaders in the 4th century, folks have been trying to chain up the word of God, to keep it under their control, with varying degrees of success. Through the centuries, various strategies have been used to attempt to chain the word of God, for example: the mandate that “Only this translation is legitimate; all others are questionable at a minimum, more likely bogus.” Or the rule that “Only clergy are well-trained enough even to read scripture, much less interpret it.” And of course, there are always those who maintain with certainty that “Since the canon of scripture is closed, the word of God is closed as well.” What arrogance we humans exhibit—trying to put the word of God in a box to which we only have the key.

Fortunately, you can fool “some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.” Those who experience the word of God “living and active” (Heb.4:12) know deep within that “the word of God is not chained.” The word of God may come directly to us in scripture, of course, but it may also be revealed to us in many other ways if our hearts are but open to receive it: in and through nature, other people—both friend and foe, our dreams, the circumstances and conditions of our lives, the media, literature, art, and music, the Internet, you name it. There’s no limit to what ways God may use to manifest to us the good news of God’s life-giving love. It is available to each of us and all of us, anywhere, any time.

No chain can be forged to keep the word of God from reaching open hearts, hearts yearning to hear and know the word of God, hearts desiring to experience the presence of God in the here and now. Thanks be to God!