Hidden....

Psalm 119: 11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

I loved Cinnamon Toast crunch, so much so that when I was younger, I used to have to hide the box from my brother so that he wouldn't eat it. I mean I tried writing my name on it, which really did nothing because once he picked up the box and say the name, rather than say "I ate the box of cinnamon toast crunch", he simply said "I ate Chris' box of cinnamon toast crunch." I even tried telling him not to do it, which in my brother's defense is difficult, after all it is probably the greatest cereal in existence (that and apple jacks). But it wasn't until I started taking the box and hiding in a place that only I could find that I began to enjoy the cereal, because I actually got to enjoy the whole box, not just a bowl.

An applicable example to what the word hidden means. To hide something in this case isn't to hide because you’re ashamed or embarrassed, the hidden is one that is of security, to safely deposit, to put in a place so secret that no one can take it from you and only you can enjoy it. That is the kind of hidden that is meant in this verse and it is this kind of hidden that we should all practice with God’s word. It isn’t enough to read it, but to also hide it so deep in our hearts that no spiritual attack, no earthly trial, no menacing thought can rip from us the peace we have in the Word of God.

Did you know that worrying is a sin. After all it is Jesus that tells us “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” Worry is itself you telling God that for some reason, He may just be wrong, you may have a point and despite what He has shown you or told you, “nevertheless” as the people in Numbers 13:28-29 said, there are issues, there are problems, there are things that He won’t be able to handle.

You are about 12 inches away from peace, from strength, from joy, from knowing God is with you. I say that because the distance between your head and your heart is about 12 inches and at times that is the only gulf that stands between you and getting to the place you need to be. Hence the need for prayer, hence the need for bible study, hence the need to sit at His feet and “learn from Him” (Matt 11:29).

What has God told you that is personal to you? What has God promised you that right now, you just don’t feel is going to happen? What is it that has gripped your heart so tight that right now you don’t even feel like God is with you? Whatever it is, take it off and give it to the God who is with you and allow peace to reign. Let His perfect love cast out fear. Take the word He has given you and hide it in the deepest part of your heart. Go to the “secret place” as Christ tells us in Matt 6 and there, learn to pray, learn to listen, learn to cry out to God who is waiting for you, in fact He died so you could…

“There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for his people to make a show-thing of him, and not to use him. He loves to be employed by us. The more burdens we put on his shoulders, the more precious will he be to us.” - Spurgeon

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