My Son's Essay

Nathaniel Iddings

May 22 2012

“Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). This verse of Scripture is certainly very memorable. Likely we all know it like the back of our hand, but how often do we look at texts like these and just skim the surface? It’s all too easy to give a shallow look at verses that are very straightforward, but when we do so we miss a great deal of the meaning. It becomes an easy proverb to recite, but memorization is not near as important as application. Here in this short sentence we have a great deal of implications that are of tremendous importance to consider.

First, take a look at what we are hiding in our hearts. We are hiding His Word in our hearts. This is how we resist temptation; drawing near to God (James 4:6-10), which involves reading Scripture. We must memorize Scripture in order to defend against temptation so that we may not sin.  We are hiding His Word in our hearts -- as opposed to the commands of men. Man’s rules cannot be of any benefit in resisting the devil. Take monasticism for instance, you are not going to somehow become more sanctified by isolating yourself from society, because Jesus said that sin comes from the heart. He prayed that the Father would not take us out of the world, but to protect us from the evil one (John 17). Since sin comes from the heart, you cannot expect to escape it in this life. The other issue with this man-made doctrine is that God would have us spread the gospel to make disciples of all the nations. You can’t accomplish that by isolating yourself from everyone. There are many more examples, but this just goes to show that we must rely on the means that God has appointed, and that alone.

The second implication we have, is the goal: Why we hide His Word in our hearts.
We hide His Word in our hearts to the end that we would not sin against Him, that we would walk uprightly before Him in all things, that His name would be glorified. It is all about Him. It is not simply for personal comfort and to make life easier. It is not because it keeps us from being the best person we can be, as Joel Osteen says.

Sin is a very personal issue. It is personal with regards to God because it is an offence to Him and capital character assassination. We are made in His image, and when we sin we are saying this is how He is. That is why we must not sin, because we are blaspheming the one God, who is the very essence of holiness and righteousness. Sin causes us discomfort and makes life difficult yes, but we are not the center of the universe. God on the other hand, created the universe!