Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psa 119:11).
All the wealth of this world cannot make you a better person. To be rich is not to be good; nor is a poor person necessarily a bad person. There is no correlation at all. A foolish teenager once boasted her boyfriend was a great guy because he had a flashy car and a pleasure boat. I never saw the connection.
Hear a riddle. What treasure is invisible, and yet people know who has it because of its positive effects on him and his life? What cannot be bought with money, and yet is worth more than all the gold in the world? What valuable thing cannot be grasped with hands, and yet many have seized it to their everlasting good? What wealth cannot be seen with the naked eye, but can be stored up in a secret place where no one can take it away?
Our text provides the answer. Scripture is the treasure and your heart is the safe where it belongs.
THE PRICELESS WORD OF GOD
Addressing God, the psalmist says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart.” God has spoken and we have His Word (His verbal revelation) preserved in Scripture, and only there. Psalm 119 is an extended meditation on this Word.
The Hebrew text uses a particular verb that means to hide, treasure, store up. It means to conceal something with a definite purpose, as for protection (TWOT #1953). The clear implication in the Hebrew, while not so plain from the English translation, is that God’s Word is the treasure which the psalmist has hidden for later use, stored up for his subsequent benefit. God’s Word is the valuable weapon needed for safety.
Realizing the priceless value of Scripture was no small part of the psalmist’s motivation in this spiritual
discipline he describes. What he calls “the law of the Lord . . . the testimony of the Lord . . . the statutes of
the Lord . . . the commandment of the Lord” and “the judgments of the Lord” is “more to be desired than gold” (Psa 19.7-10). “The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver” (Psa 119.72, alt., “gold and silver pieces”). “I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold” (Psa 119.127). “I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies, as much as in all riches” (Psa 119.14). Job said, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23.12).
Likewise with Solomon’s counsel for living. “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!” (Prov 16.16). Getting his son to value God’s Word was half the battle:
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her (Prov 3.13-18).
People of true faith readily understand these things. We need to get our hearts thoroughly affected with them, so that they will also motivate us in the direction of God’s Word.
THE CAVERNOUS HEART OF MAN
The heart of every person, each being created in God’s image, is capacious (having a lot of space inside, roomy). Actually this adjective is inadequate; the dictionary I consulted uses the example of a “capacious handbag.” Cavernous is better; the same dictionary speaks of a “cavernous warehouse.” Also, cavernous can be used figuratively about something that “gives the impression of vast, dark depths.” So it is with man’s heart.
Before conversion, the sinner’s heart is like a cave with bats and spider webs, full of innumerable loathsome, foul things—namely, his great and many sins, which even he cannot inventory or comprehend. “Both the inward thought and heart of man are deep” (Psa 64.6). “Their inward part is very wickedness” (Psa 5.9). “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer 17.9).
But God created this spacious heart of ours to be a place where He dwells and a storehouse for His Word. Man’s heart is like a treasure chest for the inspired gold. It is like a great armory for the weapons of spiritual warfare.
In ancient times, God gave His most important words to Israel written with His finger on two tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments, His revealed will for their obedience, where the moral law is summarily comprehended, directing them in the particulars of loving God with all their hearts and loving their neighbors as themselves. From the beginning, God intended the two tablets to be stored in the golden ark of the covenant in the Most Holy place (Deut 10.2). This ark was a beautiful treasure chest, securely housed in the inner sanctum, for holding their most prized possession—even the Ten Words from the Lord. The tablets were not on public display, but hidden there, as the special covenant God had made with His chosen people, the declaration of His special
relationship with them, and a description of the holiness which was to characterize their lives as distinct from the pagan Gentiles.Less familiar to us is the House of the Forest of Lebanon, also an apt image for what our hearts were meant to be (1 Kgs 10.16-17). This was a huge armory where King Solomon secured five hundred shields of hammered gold. Paul urges believers to “take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph 6.11). In describing the necessary spiritual weapons, he says, “above all, taking the shield of faith [taking God at His Word], wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. . . . and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (6.16-17). Scripture passages are like golden shields and piercing swords.
We are, therefore, to be like the ark of the covenant and Solomon’s armory, with God’s Word hidden in our hearts. Without the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly (Col 3.16), we are both desperately impoverished suffering great soul destitution, and dangerously vulnerable to the ravages of sin.
Preparing our hearts to receive God’s Word requires repentance—a deliberate casting out all the vile usurpers of that sacred space, to make room for the treasure of God’s Word. Then we must give ourselves devotedly to Scripture intake that will put us in a good way for the coming season of need.
Hiding God’s Word in our hearts first requires hearing and reading it, then understanding it, believing it, and loving it. Memorization and meditation have always been prized by God’s people for gaining and keeping a wealth of Scripture texts in the heart. The labor of these disciplines is no small investment, but it pays rich dividends.
THE SAFETY OF A WELL-STOCKED HEART
Having described his practice in the first line of this inspired couplet, David next testifies of his aim: “that I might not sin against Thee.” Without this holy purpose, the practice is useless and even sinful. For example, as Manton observes, some people get acquainted with the Bible out of mere curiosity, for their entertainment, like the philosophers on Mars Hill who gathered each day just to hear some new thing, but when the Word becomes familiar, they loathe it and turn away. This is to handle sacred Scripture in a polluted way.
Some there are who study the Bible only so that they may teach others. Surely many wicked pastors fall into this category, because they become Bible experts to make a living for themselves, but this is hideous dishonesty and a corruption of morality. They love money more than God and so they peddle Scripture to gratify their covetous desires, but God knows their hearts and their judgment will be just.
The same sin is committed by others who, while not dependent on Bible-talk for their living, use it to gain a good reputation among the people of God. Reformed churches and believers generally appreciate professing Christians with the most extensive knowledge of Scripture, and some wanting to be thus esteemed, and become diligent in reading and studying Scripture. This also is also a form of self- idolatry, while they care nothing for the glory of God.
No, but we must be hiding Scripture in our hearts to avoid sin against God, and
What an aggregate of guilt and misery is comprehended in this short word “sin”—the greatest curse that ever entered the universe of God, and the parent of every other curse! Its guilt is aggravated beyond the conception of thought. Injury to a Superior—a Father—a Sovereign! Its power is misery wherever it extends—in the family—in the world. In eternity its power is unrestrained. Sometimes the deathbed scene casts a fearful gleam of light upon “the worm that never dieth, and the fire that never shall be quenched”: but experience only can develop its full-grown horrors. How supremely important therefore is the object of our preservation from sin! and how wisely adapted are the means to the end! That Word—which the man of God had just before mentioned as the guide to the cleansing of the way—he hides within his heart—not for concealment, but for security, that it may be
ready for constant use. It is not therefore a mere acquaintance with the word, that will avail us. There must be a cordial assent—a sound digestion—a constant respect. It must be to us the rule that we would not transgress—the treasure that we are afraid to lose (Bridges, in loc.).There is no substitute for treasuring God’s Word in our hearts as a means to overcome temptation and thus to prepare for heaven. May we have grace to be sincerely committed to this holy ambition. Amen.
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