The IMPORTANCE of HIDING GOD’s WORD in our HEARTS!
June 24
Bible Reading: Psalms Chapter 119
The IMPORTANCE of HIDING GOD’s WORD in our HEARTS!
"How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You;
oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my
heart, that I might not sin against You!" (Psalms 119:9-11)
Psalm 119 is
well known as the longest chapter in the
Bible and is divided into 22 stanzas, each beginning with a Hebrew letter
and each containing 8 verses. God’s word is mentioned in all but three verses (vv.
84, 121, 122) of this chapter, and is the main topic of interest in this psalm.
One of the
most crucial problems in the life of every young person is how to keep pure. The answer for this is by practical obedience to the words of the Bible (v.9). In the
matter of holiness, there is a merging of human
desire - as we seek after God - and divine
empowerment -as God helps us not to wander from His commandments (v.10). God
does not make us holy against our will or without our cooperation.
Someone has
wisely said, “The best book in the world
is the Bible. The best place to put it is in the heart. The best reason for
putting it there is that it saves us from sinning against God.” God’s Word
can keep us clean. We must heed God’s Word (v. 9) and hide God’s Word in our
hearts (v. 11). When we heed the Word of God, this will lead to our lifestyles
being godly. What areas of our lives can God’s
word cleanse?
- It can cleanse us from wrong
thoughts. God’s word
will establish our total thought-life when we focus our thoughts by reading,
reflecting, meditating and memorizing it (Phil. 4:8, 9; 2 Pet. 1:5–10).
- It can cleanse us from wrong words. When we recite God’s word often, it
will cleanse us from the inside (James 1:22–26; Psalms 119:172).
- It can cleanse us from wrong actions. Jesus promised us this would be the
case: “You are already clean because of
the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3).
- Finally, God’s Word will keep us from wrong thoughts, words, and actions; or else wrong thoughts, words, and actions will keep us from God’s Word.
When we hide
God’s Word in our hearts we are arming ourselves when temptation comes (Eph.
6:17). As we meditate on God’s word, we come to know God better. When we have
God’s word stored within us, we are better able to hear God’s voice when He
instructs/guides us. We use God’s word when we talk to Him, worship Him as well
as teach/witness to others. With God’s word hidden in our hearts as He abides
in us (John 15:5-8), God’s ways will become our ways and our lives will reflect
God to others.
So let us
store up the Word of God in our hearts so that we may be strong in the hour of
temptation (see Matt. 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13). Campbell Morgan said of the Bible: “The best book, in the best place, for the
best purpose.” Let us read God’s word every day to be wise, believe it to
be safe and practice it to be holy!
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Col 3:16)
