Hidden in My Heart

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. (Psalm 119:9-17 ESV). The story has been told about several famous preachers, but it actually happened to Joseph Parker, minister of the City Temple in London. An old lady waited on Parker in his vestry after a service to thank him for the help she received from his sermons. "You do throw such wonderful light on the Bible, doctor," she said. "Do you know that until this morning, I had always thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were man and wife?" Let’s take a little test this morning! Which of the following aren't in the Bible?  Cleanliness is next to godliness.  God helps those who help themselves.  Confession is good for the soul.  We are as prone to sin as sparks fly upward.  Money is the root of all evil.  Honesty is the best policy. Well, you probably guessed that these are trick questions. However the correct answer is that none of them are! The principles may be there, but these quotes are not found in the Bible. It is incredible that so many times we have not taken the time to either meditate or memorize the Scripture. It is so readily available to us that we take it for granted that it will always be there. The truth is that we ought to memorize the Scripture because it is one of the weapons available to us to fight against temptation. Once we have committed ourselves to memorization, then meditation becomes a simple exercise. M. A. Rosanoff, long associated with Thomas Edison, had worked futilely for over a year to soften the wax of phonograph cylinders by altering their chemical constitution. The results were negative. Rosanoff relates how he mused night after night trying to “mentally cough up” every theoretical and practical solution. He went on to write, “Then it came like a flash of lightning. I could not shut waxes out of my mind, even in my sleep. Suddenly, through headache and daze, I saw the solution. The first thing the next morning, I was at my desk; and half an hour later I had a record in the softened wax cylinder...This was the solution! I learned to think waxes...waxes...waxes, and the answer came without effort, although months of thought had gone into the mental mill.” Meditation comes because we have disciplined ourselves to “hide the word in our hearts.” Start slowly and simply and then watch the difference it will make in your life!