Friday means looking at the word prompt and joining Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday. One word prompt. Five minutes. No editing. Many of us writing on that same word.
Today’s prompt is … Hidden.
In reading the prompt, just one verse came to mind,
“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
(Psalm 119:11, NLT)
I have some Scripture memorized but truth be known, probably not as much as I should or as others. Yet as the Scripture quickly came to mind, I felt there had to be more to this than I have known so I grabbed my commentaries.
Interestingly, I read:
The act of “hiding” God’s word is not to be limited to the memorization of individual texts or even whole passages but extends to a holistic living in devotion to the Lord. The inner devotion to the Lord also finds expression in a teachable spirit and in contentment.
(The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 5, page 740)
Hiding His Word is to be more than memorization, more than Scriptures jotted down on index cards. These are all well and good and needed, but hiding His Word entails even more.
We are to be teachable all of our years, irregardless of how much we may think we know.
Hiding the Word means living and obeying God’s Word. Scripture becomes our compass in every decision we weigh. It means obedience when the way He is leading seems to be so very different, and unsure, not the way I would have chosen.
The outward living of our obedience stems from a heart that seeks God in all things. It’s found in a heart that has buried Scripture much like a treasure, in our hearts and minds, to be drawn upon in those times we need.
In flipping to the back of my Bible, I reread a quote once written down:
I hold one single sentence our of God’s Word to be of more certainty and of more power than all the discoveries of all the learned men of all ages.” (Charles Spurgeon)
May His Word be hidden in our hearts
and lived out in our lives.
Today I am joining … Five Minute Friday and Faith Filled Friday and Grace & Truth and #FreshMarketFriday .
Loved your post! I have mainly heard that verse talked about in connection with memorising Scripture but I love how you point out that it is so much deeper than that- really letting it sink into our hearts and impact our lives.
Carly, I once heard it said that it can be a long distance from our heads to our hearts 🙂 May His Word settle quickly and deeply in our hearts.
What a great reminder! God’s Word is faith in action. It’s easy to read and memorize but harder to implement.
Stopping by from #FreskMarketFriday,
Julie
Julie, may we not just do the easy but do the hard thing as it will bring about more fruit in our lives. Blessings!
Hiding the Word, knowing The Word, living The Word means speaking Truth even when it’s unpopular. It means NOT hiding our Light (HIS LIGHT) under a bushel. It means not being politically correct but biblically correct. SPEAK TRUTH. SPEAK LIFE. DON’T HIDE.
Joanne, loved your post.
Susan, the truth may not always be the popular route at all. And somehow, I think that may be increasingly true in the days we are living. So grateful for you and your encouragement!
Yes, the point of committing it to memory is to be able to mull it over, to make it mine, and to mold my life around its truth. So good of God to meet us around His Word.
Michele, that really is it. God meets us around His Word. May we speak less and let Him speak more. Blessings!
I like this, Joanne. I’m not a memorizer of Scripture; used to be, but found that I was trotting out pat answers to deeper questions, so I started memorizing the stories, as a kind of personal oral history.
That did make it easier to maintain a life committed to the Almighty, at least for me.
#1 at FMF this week.
http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2016/07/your-dying-spouse-187-hidden-song-of.html
Andrew, you said this with much humility and grace. I love that God works so uniquely and personally with each one of us. No molds, no pattern. He knows exactly how to work in our lives so that we are able to live a life committed to Him. Blessings, friend!
Yes, our outward living through obedience…love that you went beyond the memorization to the hiding of God’s word creating a difference in our living and in our faith.