Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Friday, February 2, 2018

Audio Link: https://www.spreaker.com/user/reachmanyradio/thoughts-in-worship-02-02-2018

This is devotional thought number 68 in our devotional series, God’s Promises are Sure!

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm 119:11).

Today’s Scripture focus can very well be received as a promised from God. There are more texts that directly promise God’s protection during times of temptation. We have covered a few of them during this series. Today, I wanted to look at it from the perspective of a lowly sinner; in this case king David.

This Bible is chock full of wonderful testimonies about David. He was the diligent shepherd boy that nobody would have recommended to be the king of Judah. He was the one (young) man who trusted God more than all God’s people, including king Saul, men of war, and others, to lift up the name of YHWH in the face of the blasphemous giant, Goliath. He could not stomach the idea of an uncircumcised Philistine disrespecting the King of the universe, unchecked. David was the measure of kings. When kings were faithful, they were considered faithful like David. If not, they were unlike David. Do you see how inspiration was painting a picture for us? The Bible says that David was a man after God’s heart. He pursued the heart of God. He surrendered his heart to God. He died with his heart still dedicated to his God.

I realize some of you may also recall a couple of areas where the blessed king was not-so-faithful. You can research these in your spare time: He numbered the children of Israel and he lusted after a women to the extent of having a forbidden aliason with her, getting her pregnant, involving others in her husband’s demise, and ultimately murdering him. Perhaps, this is an oversimplification to some, but it’s the essence of what happened. God loved His son so much that He sent a prophet directly to him after he played around with the issue for a year. FInally, he surrendered his heart on this matter, agreed with God, and continued to pursue the heart of God, with the Holy Spirit as His Guide.

Why did I tell you all of this? Today’s text says that David hid Scripture in his heart as an insulation against sin. You should be curious about this. There are many who know what the Bible says about sin, and maybe even can expound the verses like university professors of theology. Yet, there are those who have not yield our hearts to God. David learned something vital as he pursued God’s heart. He learned that to be victorious over the flesh, lust, and sin, he needed to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and needed to “hide” the Word in his heart. No mere assent to truth would do. No mere memorization would do (God’s kings had Torah memorized). No fanciful expositions of Scripture would do. He needed to hide the Word in his heart. When the Word is hidden in one’s heart, it is like a seed planted in fertile ground. It is not sitting on rocky ground, on the surface of the ground, or among thorns. When it is hidden in the heart, it is planted in the deepest part of our essence, where God communes with us; from where all manner of good (or evil if unsurrendered) issues forth. Thus, David recognized, by the Holy Spirit, what Jesus would eventually demonstrate (see Matthew 4). Those who embrace the “it is written” principle in all areas of life, will triumph in the face of all manner of temptations. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life will have no power over those who have surrendered all to Jesus and continue to allow Him to cultivate the Word in our fertile hearts, to the end that we will bear much fruit.

God will indeed keep all who keep His Words hidden in...