Psalm 119 - 2009.11.28

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee..” — Psalm 119:11

With only two verses, Psalm 117 is the shortest in the Bible. Choosing a nugget as a given. This Psalm, just two beyond, is the longest chapter in the scriptures, and settling on a single verse or short passage is somewhat akin to having to choose one morsel in a candy store. This familiar text is, perhaps, as appropriate as any, and representative of the essence and objective of the whole Psalm. One can only hope to not offend the Spirit of God by serving so tiny a portion of so magnificent a feast.

“THY word.” That is the subject of this magnificent continuum man somewhere chose to break up into 176 verses. Every one of those segments, except for two or three contain some synonym for the Divine revelation: the law, His testimonies, precepts, commandments, statutes,, “thy righteous judgments,” Thy Word, etc. It is God’s word in man’s language, and its magnificence is disclosed in this Psalm like a diamond turned slowly in the light that its radiant beauty may be observed and enjoyed from every facet.

That God has SPOKEN is wonderful. That GOD has spoken is awesome. That God has spoken in a language we can understand, for our information and instruction (and in the interest of our eternal salvation) should make it the most compelling, important and interesting communication in this “information age.” It was that to the Psalmist. If you had in your library a book written by the hand of the eternal God and personally presented to you with His signature, it would be the greatest treasure in your possession. And we do! Yet few of us esteem it that highly. It was that to the Psalmist, and so ought it be to us.

This book, however, was not written to grace a library shelf or reside in some place of honor in the living room, but to be tucked away for security purposes in a safety deposit box of the heart. Only there will it fulfill the purpose for which God gave it to you and me. Observe that the sanctuary for God’s word is not the head, but the heart. The head is the seat of the intellect, and that is the avenue through which it must travel, but it is in the heart that it must find its resting place, the seat of our affections.

Fifteen time the word heart occurs in the Psalm, and fourteen of them refer to affection for God and His word. “Out of the heart are the issues of life.” An intellectual approach to the word of God will afford information, but it is only when it travels eighteen inches further and affects the heart that it will accomplish its intended goal. That goal, as expressed in our text, is the reinforcement of the soul against the ravages of sin.

The reading of the word is important and necessary. The memorization of scripture is a good and wise exercise. But neither will automatically bring victory over sin. It is the heart’s embrace of the word that does that. The word of the Lord is not a coffee table book for occasional viewing, but a working manual to be cherished and employed as a functional tool. Ministering in a rescue mission on Boston’s skid row many years ago I dealt with an inebriated soul who proudly muttered as he pulled a little New Testament out of his shirt pocket, “I always carry the bible over my heart.” His statement defined his problem; it was over his heart, but clearly not in it. There he might appreciate it in measure, but he could never reproduce it. That is the problem for many a soul, even in more glamorous circumstances. It is the great service of scripture to direct us to life eternal and how to live it, but the heart must not only incline to embrace it; one must purpose to follow its direction. The Psalmist said in another place, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart (v. 34). If the heart is not involved, the will is not engaged.

One more thing, it seems to me, remains to be said. We have an insight that the Psalmist did not. He knew the scriptures only in print. We have access to the word in Person, the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the function of the written word to introduce us to a living relationship with the Living Word. Short of that, the word will never render the grand service of which it is capable. Through the centuries there have been many, and there are many today, who have a high regard for scripture, but who have never come to embrace the One who is its author and objective. For all such, the word that could have saved them from sin will instead be their indictment.

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier