The psalmist says on one occasion that he had hidden God’s Word in his heart. What does he mean by this illustration? In ancient times, banks did not exist and people used to hide their valuables in holes and cover them with earth. When necessary, they could unearth their valuables easily. This method of hiding them also meant that thieves had no idea where those treasures were.
The process followed by the psalmist was to memorise God’s Word, but not in a mechanical manner. It is possible to memorise anything by rote, even pages in a telephone directory. But that is not how the psalmist did it. Instead, he pondered biblical statements, meditated on them, applied them to whatever situation he was in, spoke about them with his friends, and lodged them in his heart. He did all this because he loved the God who gave his Word to him.
Unlike earthly valuables, which are hidden away from the owner, this spiritual treasure is hidden within the individual believer. This means that no-one can break in and remove them. The psalmist’s heart became like a display cabinet with shelves full of priceless jewels, each one of the jewels being a statement of God’s Word personally tested by the psalmist. He liked to visit his jewels often and reflect on what they say, and in so doing he received divine comfort and help.
It was said of John Bunyan, that if people were to cut him (accidentally), they would not see blood but Bible verses, so conversant was he with God’s Word. He had discovered that the Bible was really what it claimed: it was food for his soul, it gave light when he was puzzled, it warmed his heart when his affections grew cold, it protected him when he was attacked by the devil, it revealed to him the glory he longed for, and much more.
Because he hid God’s Word in his heart, Bunyan has been a source of blessing for Christians for centuries. He was only a mender of pots and pans, but the Bible hidden in his heart became so real in his life that he became the author of the Pilgrim’s Progress, the second biggest seller in the English language. While it is unlikely that we will have the influence that Bunyan had, it is a reality that the persons who hide their biblical jewels in their hearts will influence the world around them. It is never too late to commence filling the cabinet of our hearts.
