Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” NLT
“I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.” CSB
We have a garage project going on, and we’ve gone through a stack of storage bins that have items in them, to decide what to keep and what to throw away or give to Goodwill once the project is completed. The remaining items in our storage bins are valuable, hold worthwhile memories, and serve a purpose in various ways. Many of the items are meaningful treasures to keep. Storage bins store things. Biblically speaking, our heart is where God’s Word is a treasury of what we need to keep and store in our hearts. God’s Word is our antidote to sin and our path to growing in holiness. It is not to be forgotten or ignored, but stored in our hearts, just like our storage bins, for living in obedience and having God’s guidance in our lives.
What are you storing in your heart? I am realizing more and more the importance of memorizing God’s Word, as it is truth to be applied to any and every situation that encompasses us. It will not be forgotten or ignored, as the psalmist stated in Ps. 119:11. We are to have it hidden and treasured. When we understand, meditate on, review, and memorize Scripture, we will put God’s Word in our lives as a vital guide for everything we do. As Colossians 3:12-13 teaches, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.” Then Paul further instructs, in verses 16-17 (and he did this while in prison), “Let the message of Christ, in all its riches, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” I have to ask myself: do I have these verses stored in my heart, especially when someone offends me and remind myself of these words of truth?
God is primarily after our hearts and is less concerned with our behavior than with our hearts, as Jesus condemned the religious leaders in Matthew 23:28: “Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” The Pharisees and teachers of religious law were filled with greed and corruption while appearing upright and sinless. Jesus saw through their actions and saw what was stored in their hearts. They only outwardly appeared to be righteous in public (Luke 16:15).
So the question, in looking at one of our storage bins, I had to ask myself, “What am I storing in my heart as I look at this storage bin? That is the innermost place where God’s promises are stored, treasured, and kept close, from which all my actions flow – my emotions, desires, regrets, foolish words I wish I could take back, then times of pride, resentment etc. (Mark 7:20-23).
So, as I look at one of our storage bins, it reminds me to examine what is stored in my heart. How would you answer this question?
Listen to Phil Wickham, Jamie MacDonald – Flowers (with Jamie MacDonald) [official lyric video].