Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;
Psalms 119:11: “Your word have I have I hidden in my heart, that I might no sin against you.”
“Trifles light as air, are to the jealous confirmation proofs as truth of holy writ.” Iago –– Othello – Shakespeare.
This is one of those verses you hear so often but never stop to think about how important it’s message is. Embodied in this verse is the key to overcoming sin in our lives. You don’t even have to look below the surface of this verse either. To overcome sin we need to hide the Word of God in our heart.
Now we can look a little deeper. Just what is this “word” that we will hide in our hearts? My first thought was that this would be the word “davar.” However, that is not the case. It is “amar.” There is quite a range of usages for this word. It is often used as “say” or “said.” As a noun it is expressing a saying, a command, a declaration, or even a thought. I believe David used this particular word, amar, to express this broad range. Indeed Scripture is our primary source of God’s words, and thoughts. Yet, if David wanted to limit himself to just Scripture he would have said: “Thy Torah have I hidden in my heart.” But David wanted to express more than this. Scripture makes it clear that God speaks to us in many ways. In nature, in events, circumstances, an inner prompting etc.
David takes all of this and “hides” them in his heart. We can hide God’s word in our minds, but do we hide them in our heart? The word “hide” is “saphen” which has the idea of cherishing, or treasuring something. This is a picture of two lovers who are treasuring each other’s words and thoughts. A wife tells her husband in the morning that she loves him. The husband will take those words and hide or treasure them in his heart all day long. All throughout the day he will find a moment or two where he can sit back, take those words out of his heart, think about those words, relive that moment that she spoke those words, savor those words, and treasure those words. This is what David meant by hiding the words of God in his heart. Whenever David has a moment, he will sit back and pull the words or thoughts of God out of his heart and meditate on them.
When a man “hides” or “treasures” the words of his wife, he will mediate on those words throughout the day. With those words fresh in his heart, it is very unlikely he will be tempted to “sin” against his wife. Such a thing, such a thought would destroy the beauty and sacredness of those words. So too with God, when we treasure His words, we will not want to sin against Him lest we destroy the beauty and sacredness of his words to us.
The Bible, of course, is God’s love letter to us. How do you read a love letter? “Dear Bunkie…” “Hmmm? I wonder why she said ‘dear’ and not ‘dearest’ or ‘my dear.’ Is she losing interest? Doesn’t she care anymore.” When you read a love letter, you read every word, analyze each word, cherish each word.
Shakespeare hit upon this truth in his play Othello, where the evil servant sought to make Othello jealous of his wife by just leaving a handkerchief in his chamber and letting Othello’s imagination run wild. In matters of the heart, just a trifle act can have earth shaking consequences.
When we study the Word of God as a letter of love, as book written from and for the heart, then a trifle such as a simply word that would mean nothing to the average person, can be life changing to someone who is in love with its author.
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