SCRIPTURE
Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.
PRAYER
O Lord, if treasure is something we hide, You must be the greatest treasure of all. We praise You that You know how to make the whole universe and all of life, and yet make it so that we walk by faith. Build our faith, and instruct us in the way today, and open our minds and hearts to receive Your utterly precious truth, today. Amen!
LESSON
Thy word I have treasured IN MY HEART: Heart is the hebrew word leb, which means inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding. It is the seat of appetites, emotions, passions, inclinations, desire, conscience, and will. In our mind, actually, we may talk to ourselves, get confused, etc. But in our heart, such games do not work. Our conscience knows, our heart is always present. It never ceases to amaze me how we could think to gain a pleasure by sin which our heart will never let us enjoy.
Let me say this: memorizing scripture is not the same as treasuring the word, hiding it in your heart. When you treasure something in your heart, it is real desire, true love. You have fallen in with it, you have become obsessed with it, you daydream about it. There is no use pretending – pretense is not hiding it in your heart. If there is something else you obsess about, something else you love, be clear about it. Don’t be shamed into being dishonest about your desires with yourself. That is like a person with severe health problems going to the doctor and hiding their symptoms – it is ridiculous. Either you love His word or you love something else; so get straight about what you love.
And so, we have this idea: ‘Bible Study’ is a phrase straight from hell, as it puts this whole treasuring of the word idea in a box and makes it pedantic and boring and avoidable. If His word is not TREASURED, it is not understood yet. It is the heart which must understand, the mind is a crucial but secondary tool. This is not some fluffy touchy feely charismatic hoo-haw either; it is right here in this particular verse. The Psalmist has treasured the word IN HIS HEART. If it is not so, he is doomed to sin.
Here is today’s question: how can we move from a place of being obligated to do ‘Bible Study’ or have a ‘quiet time’ to having our true heart engaged in seeing God’s word as a TREASURE?