Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

The cited verse speaks of "hiding" God's word in one's heart, which I interpret to mean lengthy and deep study of it to the point of being able to recall its guidance or commandments quickly or reflexively from memory, especially on occasions where the possibility of committing sin presents itself. In such situations, such quick recall can act as a barrier to yielding to the temptation in question.

Jesus illustrated this when Satan tempted Him to commit sinful actions in Matthew 4:1-11, with Satan even citing Scripture in support of his temptation. In each case, Jesus immediately countered the temptation with other Scripture verses clearly indicating that yielding to Satan's temptation would be sinful and forbidden by God.

February 24 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Supporter Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

The answer is simple really, when we understand the nature of sin, and the tools [His Word and His Spirit] that God has given us to overcome it.

NATURE AND TEMPTATION OF SIN

"When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:13-15)

Before we become a Christian, sin starts with the evil desires of our heart, our sinful human nature. These desires influence what we think about. Our minds become focused on gratifying these desires in our thoughts, words and deeds. Once we give in to the temptations, we become "hooked". Gratifying these desires gives us great pleasure, but the pleasure is fleeting, it doesn't last, so we have to sin again and again to get the pleasure. One sin leads to another sin to keep gratifying these desires. Over time we develop addictive behaviors that we don't even think about, we just react and give in when the temptation comes.

When we become a Christian our sinful nature is crucified on the cross with Jesus and we are born again. Our sinful human nature is gone and we receive Jesus's divine nature, the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us. Our struggle is now with the desires of our flesh - the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of our lives. These evil patterns of thinking, speaking and acting ruled our lives when our sinful human nature was in control. Now we must put them to death by changing what we think about, to overcome their power in our lives.

WORD OF GOD AND POWER OF THE SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit begins to place new desires in our hearts, to please God, and to live holy and righteous lives. But we need to renew our minds so we stop going back to these old patterns of behavior. That is where the WORD OF GOD [the Bible comes in]. As we read, study and meditate on the words of the bible, our thinking changes. We stop reacting to the addictive behaviors of our old life and start choosing what is pleasing to God. Reading the bible grows our faith, so we are able to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit to act upon the new desires that he has placed in our hearts. 

Over time, as we act upon these new desires [God's will for our lives], new patterns of thoughts, words and actions emerge that fulfil God's plan and purpose for our lives. We discover that these desires are "good, pleasing to us, and perfectly suited for who we are". The pleasure we get from obeying God far exceeds anything we experienced in our old life. And the pleasure doesn't diminish, it gets better and better. When we experience how God uses us to advance his kingdom of justice, righteousness, love and faithfulness all around us, we become filled with passion and excitement to fulfil our mission every day.

But there is a huge warning here also. This transformation is a life long process. As long as we are diligent to continue renewing our minds with the word of God we will overcome sin in our lives [never sinless but we will sin less]. When we start ignoring the Word of God, thinking we have this Christian life all figured out, we will start to fall back into our old patterns of behavior and sin will grab hold of our lives again.

Let's keep the faith and be diligent everyday to invest in our spiritual growth. We will never be disappointed with the pleasure that God gives us for obeying him.

February 24 2021 • 6 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter Arizona Bible College graduate and Dallas Seminary graduate

Psalm 119:11 says: "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Psalm 119:11-13 (ESV) states: "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."

This verse shows how God's Word protects us from sin when we deeply internalize it--treasuring, storing, or hiding it in our hearts rather than just knowing it superficially.

The Old Testament believer who wrote Psalm 119 was not satisfied with having the law in his home, his head, or his hand; he wanted the law in his heart, where it could help him love what was holy and do what was right (v. 11). (Warren Wiersbe)

Jeremiah was definitely the prophet of God’s Word in the heart (Jer. 31:31-34), and this is an emphasis in 119 (vv. 11, 32, 80, 111).
80 May my heart be blameless in your statutes, that I may not be put to shame!
111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

The writer of Psalm 119 found the law to be his light (vv. 105, 130). “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20), but the psalmist used the law to get victory over sin (vv. 9-11). “The law kills!” (Rom. 7:9-11), but the law brought the psalmist new life when he was down in the dust (see nasb vv. 25, 40, 88, 107, 149, etc.). “Law and grace are in opposition!” many declare, but the psalmist testified that law and grace worked together in his life (vv. 29, 58). God used Moses to liberate the people from Egypt, but then God gave Moses the law to give to Israel at Sinai. The German philosopher Goethe wrote, “Whatever liberates our spirit without giving us self-control is disastrous.” Law and grace are not enemies, for law sets the standard and grace enables us to meet it (Rom. 8:1-3). (Warren Wiersbe)

The psalmist portrays himself as having internalized Yahweh’s directions at a deep level, which results in a consuming loyalty that envelops his will and his emotions. (John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible)

The Word of God establishes our values (Ps 119:11, 37, 72, 103, 127, 148, 162).
103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.

In simple terms, God's Word keeps us from sin by being deeply rooted in our hearts. It lights our path, reveals what sin is, gives us strength to overcome temptation, revives us when we're weak, and shapes our desires toward holiness and away from wrongdoing. It works with God's grace: the Word sets the standard of right living, while grace gives us the power to follow it. This leads to joyful obedience, freedom from legalism, and true delight in God.

1 day ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report