“I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.”
Psalms 119:11
God wants us to store up His word, His law, in our hearts and minds. By doing so, we will know how to keep from sinning and will be able to become more like God. But what does it mean to have stored up God’s word in our hearts?
Have you ever loved something – a poem, movie quote, book quote, etc. – so much that you knew it by heart? You could say it in your sleep, you could think of it anytime of the day or night and recite it perfectly. You talk about it or quote it so much that your friends and family almost get sick of hearing it.
Now imagine if you knew the Bible that well. I don’t mean memorized like a poem or movie line, but actually knew it like it was a part of you deep in your bones. Something you didn’t just say, but lived like it was the very core of your being. That’s what we should strive to do as Christians.
Storing Up God’s Word to Keep Us From Sin
That second line of the Psalm, “that I might not sin against you,” might make you wonder about its meaning. Sinning against God isn’t just something like hurting others (although we shouldn’t do that either). In God’s eyes, sinning against Him is knowing what He wants from us, and then turning our backs on it. Doing evil isn’t only committing a moral wrong like killing or stealing, but it could also be something like knowing the right thing to do and not doing it.
If we know what Jesus has commanded us to do as Christians, then we should obey. When we are truly part of God’s people, we naturally would stop sinning as we follow the Word. However, if we know what Jesus has commanded but do not obey, then that’s considered to be a sin according to the Bible. But if we don’t know or understand what Jesus said to begin with, then how can we obey it?
Have you considered if you truly know and fully understand ALL of Jesus’ teachings? Yes, they might be mentioned in church, but do you know them by heart? So well that you can explain it to any passerby? If you don’t, then what should be your next step?
Storing up God’s Word in our hearts is what helps us carry out a true life of faith. One that allows us to fully understand and keep the commands given by God and Jesus. Jesus says in John 14:23 that those who love him keep his commandments. If we carry out a life of faith according to God’s word as He desires, then we prove our love to Him and Jesus.
Storing Up God’s Word to Keep Us from Falling
Psalms 37:31 says,
“The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.”
Writing God’s word on our hearts and minds also allows us to truly follow the narrow path Jesus spoke about, the path that leads to salvation. The narrow path has many obstacles and is difficult to travel on, but if we have God’s Word stored in our hearts, it is what protects us from the hardships we face.
God’s Word is likened to armor in Ephesians 6, it protects us from attacks of the enemy and also is a guiding light for our faith. So storing this Word in our heart keeps us from being overcome by the enemy while also bringing us closer to God.
What Happens When We Haven’t Stored Up the Word in Our Hearts
Those who don’t truly store God’s word in their hearts still allow space for Satan to gain a foothold in their hearts. If we look in the Bible, we can see plenty of examples of Satan leading God’s people astray.
For example, Adam and Eve in Genesis clearly shows us this. God told Adam and Eve to not eat from the Tree of Good and Evil in the garden of Eden, but since Eve fully didn’t believe God, she allowed Satan’s words to enter into her heart and she disobeyed God. She also got Adam to disobey as well.
Now in today’s time, while we don’t have a tree to eat from in a physical sense, we do have all kinds of strange and false teachings out there that can easily deceive us if we don’t know God’s word well. For us to not be led astray, we must know God’s Word and understand it 100%.
We must not carry out our life of faith based on our own interpretations or feelings. Otherwise run the high risk of doing the wrong thing and sinning. The Pharisees and teachers of the law at the time of Jesus’ first coming thought they had the right faith by keeping the Law of Moses and their own traditions. But Jesus called them out on their sin by failing to recognize what God truly wanted – which was believing in the one God sent, Jesus Christ.
Today we must know what God and Jesus truly want by understanding the words Jesus spoke in the gospels and in the book of Revelation. If we cannot do that, then what will happen to us? Won’t we be judged just as the Pharisees were?
How Can I Make Sure I’ve Stored Up God’s Word?
So then, how do we make sure we’re storing God’s word in our hearts? We do that by studying it. By putting time and effort into digging deep into the Bible. That is our mission for this blog and for our church. And that is why we offer Bible studies, to help anyone wanting to store God’s Word in their hearts to do that. While it takes effort and dedication, let’s always keep in mind God’s will for us and our faith. And that is to store His word and law in our hearts and minds.
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.
Hebrews 8:10
Written by Kenny
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