There are two possible ways that one can encounter the Word of God.  I use the word encounter because we find ourselves entering the stream of its existence not the other way around.  It’s God’s Word, therefore by nature eternal.  We either receive it and allow its life-changing power and truth to work its way within – creating an entirely new creature.  Who, upon completion, is able to experience and withstand the assault of being in God’s mighty presence!  Or we seize it!  Making it something entirely different. Recreating the Word to fit our small world, therefore diminishing it.  Sure, we learn it, even protect and defend it, but never allow it to have free reign in our lives.  Without this freedom we become a somewhat deformed creature whose sound is one of change but whose heart is a well-protected domain belonging solely to self.  The creature is out of place in God’s presence and cannot stand.  It is cast out, away from God, where only the pure and completely changed are able to “Be.”