THY WORD HAVE I HID IN MINE HEART .

 

EVENING DEVOTIONS by James Smith

JANUARY 29
 
Psalm 119:9
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee.

 

The tables of the old covenant were laid up in the ark, and hidden in the holy place; the contents of the new covenant should be laid up in the believer’s heart.

 

By close, daily, prayerful meditation, we should seek to understand, enjoy, and lay up God’s holy word.

 

It is the manna we are to gather for our daily food, the light in which we are to walk, and the rule by which we are to work.

 

Let us lay up the gracious doctrines,

      which are the ground of our confidence;

            the exceeding great and precious promises,

                  which are inexhaustible sources of comfort; and

                        the kind and holy precepts, which are unerring guides.

 

If hidden in the heart, no one can deprive us of this precious treasure;

       nor shall we have it to seek, when we want it to enjoy.

 

But in order to do this, we must know its value,

      prize its contents,

            search its pages,

                   ponder it in our minds, and

                          feed upon it as our daily food.

 

Except we hide it in our hearts, we shall not be sanctified by it,

       nor will it be written out in our lives;

              from the heart it flows into the life.

 

May it be our daily prayer, that God would put his law into our minds, and write them upon our hearts.

 
Its promises rejoice the heart,
Its doctrines are divinely true;
Knowledge and pleasure it imparts
It comforts and instructs us too.
 

James Smith