Posted on by Dave Miers

Hiding God’s Word in your heart

I’m preaching on Psalm 119 this Sunday @ ccecnitechurch. In it the Psalmist is deeply passionate about the word of God. Rejoice, delight, recount, obedience, praise, understanding, wonder, zeal and love are some of his responses to the word.

I’ve been challenged to “not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deut 8:3 and Matt 4:4).

The following is one way that the Psalmist seeks to feed upon the word of God:

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11

Jerry Bridges says that one of the ways that the Holy Spirit guides is by recalling to our minds scriptures that we have memorised. Maybe he said that so Navigators could sell more memory verse cards! My guess is that it’s based more on Ephesians 6 and being armed with the Sword of the Spirit – which is the Word of God.

Here are 3 systems that might be helpful in arming yourself:

  • Navigators Topical Memory System. I have completed the first set of these verses which is about 60 verses. There are a bunch of other sets that I haven’t completed. If you don’t buy their cards… just use the verses they have on the above page and make your own cards.
  • Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Piper) – Fighter Verses. They do this system of over 500 verses as a church. Check the link above to find out more about how they do it, including subscribing to a Podcast with verse of the week. You can also buy the full set for super cheap from Desiring God.
  • Forever Grateful Music – Scripture Memory Songs by Mark Altrogge. CraigS has started using these and says that they are gold. Check out some of their samples and then order some CD’s if all goes well.

Do you know more Bible verses or quotes from your favourite movies?
Do you read the newspaper or the Bible first thing in the morning?

Delight in the Word of God. Be passionate about it. Remember it. Hide it in your heart.

Do you use a system for remembering verses? Which one? What’s it like??

5 Replies to “Hiding God’s Word in your heart”

  1. I know a guy (and you know him too!) who had memorised a few books of the bible by recording himself reading them and then repeatedly playing them back.

    I tried to memorise ephesians, but only got as far as chapter 1. Some gold in there though! Forgotten it now, unfortunately.

  2. i once memorized Colossians 1. Fogotten now… nice big idea Dave. Great passage to preach on. How are you gonna contain that massive Psalm. What do you think are the highpoints?

  3. hey sam.

    here’s my outline from tonight:

    HIDING GOD’S WORD IN YOUR HEART
    (Psalm 119:1-24 & Colossians 3:12-17)
    PSALM 119

    New Year’s Resolution: Read the Bible

    1) How can a young man keep his way pure?
    a) An external problem, an internal solution
    b) The heart focused on God’s Word
    c) The heart focused on God
    d) The heart focused on joyfully obeying God

    2) Jesus gives us a new heart

    3) Hiding God’s Word in your heart

    Encouragement when stray

  4. big question: What will help you to spend more time reading the Bible next year?

    big answer: treasuring God’s Word – and ultimately treasuring God himself.

    there were a number of things that kept recurring throughout the Psalm.

    -The Word (every verse [176] except 3 maybe 4 has a reference to it!!]
    -The Psalmists response of delight
    -God

    verse 176 (and the promise of the New Covenant) – i think is a key verse when we get discouraged and feel inadequate compared to the passion of the psalmist

    peaceout

Comments are closed.