“Making Our Heart a Home for God’s Word”

Psalm 119:9-16

 

Have you noticed how quickly the calendar pages turn? Maybe for you children it doesn’t seem that way. But as we age, we realize with increasing awareness how fast time flies.

 

I have one of those calendars that depict each month with a beautiful picture. This month it has a picture of Stockade Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Scripture verse is from Luke 8:25, “He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!” I looked ahead to September and saw a picture of the Adirondacks in a foretaste of their autumn glory.

 

But the reality is that our world is not just a beautiful picture of a new month. The tranquility and beauty that are pictured on our calendar pages don’t reflect the reality of what we see in our lives. The reality of what we see in our lives involves crime, sickness, death, along with every type of evil imaginable. The reality of what we see in life is that we live, in the words of Galatians 1:4, in “the present evil age.” 

 

Instead of a spectacular view of a mountainside lake, instead of the beauty of the Adirondacks, when we look at the world around us, we see the ravages of sin in a violent, fallen world – a world filled with evil and over flowing with temptation.

 

But “the present evil age” that the Bible uses to describe our world, doesn’t just apply to us today. Ever since humanity was plunged into sin – ever since Adam and Eve rebelled against God – humanity has lived in an evil age. "The present evil age" also applied to the time when this Psalm was written, some one thousand years before the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah.

 

 

With that background of a present evil age, this second stanza of Psalm 119 begins by asking, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” (9a). It is a necessary question, not only for you young men among us but for each one of us, whatever age or gender we may be. As we live in this present evil age, how can we keep ourselves pure?

 

The second part of verse 9 gives the answer: “By guarding (ourselves) according to your word.”  And the Psalmist goes on in verse 10 to say, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” Then, in verse 11, he gives us the ultimate key to living a pure life in a hostile, evil, sinful age, as he writes: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

 

Many of you are aware that Psalm 119 is divided into 22 stanzas, each containing 8 verses which begin with the same letter. For instance, in this stanza we see the word “Beth” – the Hebrew word for B – above verse 9 in our English Bibles. That reminds us that in the original Hebrew each verse of this stanza begins with the Hebrew letter for “B.”

 

But the Hebrew letter “Beth” also means “house.” Because of that, Herbert Lockyer, in his commentary on the Psalms, has noted that the theme of verse 11 is “Making our heart a home for the word of God.” 

 

I don’t know of any better goal in life than the goal of making one’s heart a home for the word of God. After all, the greatest treasure in the entire cosmos is the word of God, for the word of God – the Holy Bible – reveals Christ. He is the only Savior from sin, the only one who can strengthen us against temptation in this present evil age, the only one who can grant perfect peace – reconciliation – with our triune God.

 

After all, the word of God is one with Christ Himself. The gospel writer, John, points that out in the first chapter of his gospel. Speaking of the incarnation, he writes: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

 

That is why God’s word is eternal. It is the word of Christ, and Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the one who has no beginning and no end. Peter quotes from Isaiah 40 and writes, in 1 Peter 1:24-25: “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” That is why the word of God is the greatest of all treasures. It reveals Christ to us and instructs us how to live to the praise of his glorious grace.

 

In the 19^th Psalm, David describes how the word of God in its entirety with its laws, testimonies, precepts, commandments and rules is “to be desired more than gold, even much fine gold.” He describes how God’s word “is sweeter than honey, and drippings from the honeycomb.” He writes: “By them” (the various aspects of God’s word) “is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psa. 19:10-11).

     

Since the Word of God, revealing Christ, is the greatest treasure, verse 11 calls us to store God’s word in our heart. The Bible uses the word “heart” to signify the center of our being. The heart represents all that we are internally – the real person inside. That’s why Proverbs 4:23 tells us to “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Jesus taught that all the issues of life spring from our heart. That is why it is so important to put God’s Word on the inside – in the recess of our heart. God’s Word is stored in our heart, not so that we don’t witness, but for security. It anchors us in trial, and guards us in temptation.

 

Not only is the word of God the greatest treasure, and not only is it to be stored in the most crucial place – our heart, but thirdly, it is stored within us for the best purpose. Verse 11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

 

Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, all humanity has been estranged from God, at enmity with him because of their sin. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that our sins are forgiven and purged. And when we know Jesus as our Savior, we won’t want to continually sin against him. Part of our sanctification is found in that as we age, we see more and more of our sin. And as we see our sin more clearly, we are also more deeply grieved by it. 

 

The best defense against sin and temptation is to store God’s Word in our heart, for the Holy Spirit will take that word and convict us, guard us, and strengthen us as we live in this present evil age.

 

 

In verses 13 to 16 we see a number of results that spring from storing God’s Word in our heart. First, when we store God’s word in our heart, we will recount his law and remember his commandments.

 

If this Psalm was written by David, as many commentators believe, then we can picture David as a shepherd boy, recounting what he had learned in a godly home, recounting the instruction of the Bible of his day. He did not have access to the Bible on a cell phone as we do today, and he did not have a pocket New Testament along with Psalms and Proverbs. But by memorizing the word that he did have, he could recount God’s laws and his rules.

 

The words “commandments” (10) and “rules” (13) in this Psalm are used to cover all God’s word, not just the ten commandments or other specific laws. Consequently, the Psalmist is saying, “I will recount your word to me, because it is stored in my heart.”

 

In verse 14 the Psalmist describes how “In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.” The word “testimonies” (“statutes” in the 1978 NIV) speaks of the binding force and the permanent nature of God’s word. His testimonies serve as admonitions, ordinances, and warnings for us. They also designate God’s will for our lives. For instance, God’s ultimate will for your life and mine, as expressed in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, is that we are holy, that we are sanctified.

 

And as the Psalmist reflected on God testimonies, he realized that there is more joy in knowing God through a study of his word than there is in great riches. He came to the realization that Jesus would later teach about in two short parables in Matthew 13. In the first parable a man found a hidden treasure in a field. Then he buried it again so that he could go and sell all that he had in order to gain that treasure.

 

In the next short parable Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven, and entrance into it through faith in him, is the greatest of all treasures. He compared it to a merchant looking for fine pearls. “When he found one of great value,” Jesus said, “he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44 -46). Every Christian who stores God’s word in his heart finds that same truth. Every true believer will find that there is no earthly treasure close to the treasure of God’s word as it reveals Christ and his redeeming love.

 

Not only did the Psalmist rejoice in following God’s testimonies, he also meditated and took great delight in God’s precepts, in a knowledge of God’s ways and decrees. We read of that in verse 15 and the first part of verse 16: “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes” (decrees – 1978 NIV).

 

The words “precepts, ways, and statutes” describe various facets or aspects of God’s word. “Precepts” is a word that is drawn from the same Hebrew word for an overseer or officer. Just as someone would look intently into a situation to better understand it, so the word “precepts” reveals the intricacies of the Lord’s instructions to us. It is in his precepts that we see the details of how he desires us to live.

 

His “ways” refers to the greatness of our Lord, that he is high above us. As the Lord says in Isaiah 55:9, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” ­ Yet those ways and thoughts are revealed to us in Scripture – not in their entirety, but enough to reveal our Lord to us and to reveal how we are to believe in him alone for salvation and then live a life of gratitude for him.

 

The word “statutes” speaks of the immutability and permanence of what God has said. A statute is an eternal proclamation that will not be turned away from. What God has decreed – his statutes – must be a reality in our lives. These descriptions of the intricacies of God’s word are found throughout the Psalm. Each one is like an exquisite cut on a diamond.

 

When you examine a diamond closely and look at it from every angle you see the various aspects, and the striking beauty of that treasured diamond. It is the same is true with God’s word. As we look at all the various aspects, the testimonies, decrees, statutes, precepts, ordinances and other ways that God reveals himself to us, we see the beauty of the word in all its richness, variety, and completeness.

 

We come to see the truth of what Paul would write to Timothy about that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).  The Psalmist is telling us that we are to take all these aspects of the inspired word of God and meditate upon them.

 

 

To meditate on something is to think about something thoroughly, as you turn it over in your mind. The more you consider and think about the word of God, in all its richness and variety, the more you will take delight in the revelation of himself to us. By mediating on God’s word we gain a glimpse of him who we will one day see face to face, even our Lord and Savior who has redeemed us from our sin by sacrificing himself on the cross of Calvary.

 

When we mediate on the word, as we store God’s word in our heart, we will make every effort not to forget that word. The last line of the stanza simply says, “I will not forget (neglect – 1978 NIV) your word.”  I wish I could say with sincerity that I have never neglected or forgotten the word of God. But unfortunately, I have often neglected God’s word, either by not faithfully reading it, or, when it is read, not living it out, in my life.

 

Another aspect of forgetting the word of God, is neglecting to take it seriously enough to hide it in our heart, that is, to memorize it. We have become lax in focusing on the word of God, in part because there are so many things in this present evil age that compete with the word of God in our mind.

 

We are bombarded with information, whether on social media, news outlets, or through a constant barrage of what is called entertainment. And so often, even in the life of a believer, our thoughts focus on those things of the world that are put before us so attractively, instead of on the word of God which is a treasure far greater than anything that the world can offer.

 

One of the best ways to remember the word of God is to memorize it, to store it in your heart. Bible memory was practiced widely before social media and television occupied our minds with trivial pursuits, or worse, blatantly sinful desires.

 

For instance, it was not unusual for parents to have their children memorize large portions of Scripture, including this 119^th Psalm, in its entirety. Young minds have a greater ability to memorize than older minds, and the memorization of younger years sticks in the mind. And, even when partially forgotten, memorization of passages is quickly renewed with periods of review.

 

Those who learn passages in younger years find them invaluable in older years. For instance, Wilbur Wilberforce, who was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade, kept a diary in which he wrote on one occasion: “Walked today from Hyde Park corner repeating the 119^th Psalm in great comfort.”  He had a long walk, so he recited the 119^th Psalm in its entirety to himself so that he could meditate on it and think more thoroughly about its meaning.

 

I memorized the 19^th Psalm, but I’m intimidated by the 119^th Psalm! Yet I am thankful that I have finally come, at an older age, to see the importance of memorizing larger sections of God’s word.

 

When the Lord was working on me, bringing me to himself in the late 1970’s, I sent a donation to Dr. Jerry Falwell, whose preaching I heard on TV. With a donation of any size he would send you a little pin – a tie clip – that said, “Jesus first”. He sent me the pin, but also a long letter on how I should memorize Bible verses. My first reaction was, “That’s too radical. I want to put Jesus first in my life, but I don’t want to have to memorize his word! I’ll just read it.” There was a stubborn rebellion in my heart against memorizing God’s Word.

 

That rebellion against memorizing the word was still in my heart when I began seminary studies. The seminary I attended is one of the few that required Bible memorization. Every Friday we had a quiz on the proof texts that Louis Berkhof used in his massive Systematic Theology. The first semester I passed, only because my professor knew the true meaning of grace. Gradually I did better, and by my senior year I routinely got “A’s.” But what surprised me – and it shouldn’t have – is that over the span of my ministry, one of the most practical seminary courses was that course in Bible memory. So often, in my ministry, those memorized verses have come back to help me.

 

In the past, I used small cards to jot memory verses on. I kept them in my pocket so that I could review them if I was waiting for a bus or standing in line at a store. It was long before cell phones, and it was a much better use of time. Later on, I began to memorize longer portions of Scripture, but my initial motives were not pure.

 

The second time we had the Lord’s Supper in our church at Oak Lawn, I forgot to pass the element of bread to the elders. I’m probably the only pastor in the 103-year history of the church who forget to do that. I’m thankful that one of the elders passed the bread for me. But that incident drove me to memorize blocks of Scripture – chapters instead of verses. I found that even someone my age, with a memory so bad that I would forget to pass the elements to my elders, can memorize whole chapters of the Bible.

 

As you can imagine, I have been greatly blessed by memorizing the larger passages. I wish now that I would have memorized whole chapters of Scripture years ago. I wish that years ago, when I stood in my kitchen reading the letter from Jerry Falwell, that I had taken his counsel and memorized, not just verses here and there, but whole chapters of God’s precious treasure to us.

 

I commend Bible memory to each one of you, not just as a mental exercise as we grow older and fear Alzheimer’s or some other mental failure, but as obedience to this Psalm so that whatever age we are, young or old, we can echo the words of verse 11: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

 

 

One last application: As we memorize God’s word, we are dependent on prayer and God’s Spirit to apply his word which we have stored up in our heart. Did you notice the request of the Psalmist, in the last part of verse 12? He writes: “Teach me your statutes” (“decrees” – 1978 NIV).

 

You can know God’s Word through and through, and yet if the Holy Spirit has not applied that word to your life – if he has not taught you his statutes – it will make you a bitter skeptic instead of a thankful, forgiven sinner turned saint.

   

When we worshipped in Florida recently, people told us about a funeral that had been held the previous week for a brilliant professor at a local university. The professor who died was from India, with a long first and last name, but he went by the nick name, “Ish.”

 

Ish rarely came to church on Sunday, but he always attended the men’s Bible study on Saturday mornings. He came with a full knowledge of the word of God, but he came to speak against that word, to use it against believers who were there. He used it to argue against the great truths that the other men held dear.

 

He had a sharp mind. He knew the Bible through and through. He, too, had memorized portions of it. But the Holy Spirit had not opened his eyes – his heart – to the wonderful truths of the word. As 1 Corinthians 2:14 points out, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

 

Whenever we read and memorize God’s word, we are to do so with the prayer that for the sake of the Son, the Father and Son would send the Holy Spirit into our lives so that we would understand the word and have it applied to us by God’s Spirit. As Jesus said in John 16:14-15, “He (the Holy Spirit) will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

 

By God’s grace, may the Holy Spirit apply the word he has inspired to your life and mine so that we see how precious that word is. And may we eagerly read, memorize, and meditate on God’s word. Only then will we be able to follow the teaching of this Psalm and store God’s word in our heart, taking great delight in his commandments, statutes, testimonies, precepts, and decrees as we strive not to sin against him. Amen.

 

 

 

bulletin outline:

 

 

                                                  Psalm 119:9-16

 

I.  Since the Hebrew letter “Beth” means “house” it has been noted that

     the theme of verse 11 is “making our heart a home for the Word of

     God.” ¹ A popular outline for verse 11 is:

      1) The best thing: “Your Word”

 

 

      2) Hidden in the best place: “my heart”

 

 

      3) For the best purpose: “that I might not sin against you” ²

 

 

II. When we hide God’s Word in our heart we will:

     1) Recount His rules, His laws (13)

 

 

     2) Delight in following His testimonies more than riches (14)

 

 

     3) Meditate and delight in His precepts, ways, and statutes (15-16a)

 

 

     4) Make every effort not to forget, not to neglect His Word (16b) 

 

 

III. Application: We are dependent on prayer and God’s Spirit to apply

      His Word stored in our heart (12b; John 16:14-15; 1 Cor. 2:14)

 

 

 

 

 

1. Herbert Lockyer, Psalms: A Devotional Commentary, pg. 542

 

2. The outline is by C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3, pg. 449 and is also adopted, with minor

     variations, by Herbert Lockyer, in Psalms: A Devotional Commentary, pg. 544