Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Here is our verse for today:
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
The psalmist hid God’s word. He did not hide God’s word for the purpose of concealing it from the view or discovery of others. He rather hid it for the purpose of safekeeping so as not to lose it. He treated God’s word like a precious treasure that he wanted to keep. Now the place where the psalmist hid the word was in his heart. The purpose for his hiding it there was that he might not sin against God.
The psalmist hid God’s word in his heart. By hiding it in his heart, he put it in the place where it would have the greatest influence upon the course of his life.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
It is with our heart that we think, intend, know, understand, purpose, believe, and experience emotions such as joy and sorrow (Hebrews 4:12; Ecclesiastes 1:17; Daniel 10:12; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Romans 10:9; Isaiah 65:14). Indeed, all the issues of our life can be reduced down to those things we think, know, understand, believe, decide, and feel. If God’s word is hid in our heart, the issues of our life are going to be affected by it. And since God’s word steers us away from sin, the issues of our life will also be steered away from sin.
God’s word needs to be hid in the heart. It is not enough to store it in a notebook or in a computer program. It needs to be inside of you!
Proverbs 4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
When you love the Scriptures, read them frequently, and meditate upon them, they will become stored up in your heart. And when you are tempted to sin, you will be able to draw upon them to resist sin just as our Lord did when Satan tempted Him to sin in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Each temptation was met with “It is written,” a citation from the Holy Scriptures. It was by this means our Lord avoided sin and it is by that means you will avoid it as well.
Psalms 17:4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
1 John 2:14 ....I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
But if the word is not hidden in your heart, if you don’t know what the Bible teaches regarding certain sins, then you are more apt to fall into those sins when tempted. Have you ever committed a sin only to recall too late the Bible verse that forbad that sin? If you simply take a moment to think and pray before you act, that is, if you take heed to your way as verse 9 of our Psalm teaches us; and if you have the word hidden in your heart for immediate access; you greatly reduce the chances of stumbling into sin unexpectedly.
Then consider that the psalmist is telling God that he hid His word in his heart. If we would ask God to deliver us from sinning, we should be able to acknowledge to God that we have followed His prescription for avoiding sin. To ask God to deliver us from sin without taking His prescription is like expecting a doctor to heal us without taking his remedy. So if you would not sin, then get out your Bible, read it, meditate on it, and hide it in your heart.
In conclusion, notice something very interesting about the first three verses of this second section Beth as they compare with the first three verses of the first section Aleph. The first verse of Aleph speaks of “the undefiled in the way.” The first verse of Beth asks “wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way.” Both verses speak of a way, the objective being that a young man’s way corresponds to God’s way. The second verse of Aleph pronounces them blessed who seek the Lord “with the whole heart,” while in the second verse of Beth the psalmist said that he had sought God with his “whole heart.” Then the third verse of Aleph speaks of those who “do no iniquity” and the third verse of Beth teaches us how to “not sin.” Every theme mentioned in the statements of the first three verses of Aleph become prayers in the first three verses of Beth. Now is this just a coincidence or is this inspiration?
No comments:
Post a Comment