Wednesday Reading: Psalm 119:9-16
Key Verse: Psalm 119:11
11 I have hidden Your Word in my heart, so that I might not sin against You.
Devotion:
I was once asked “What does Psalm 119:11 follow on from?” I cannot ever remember getting down to answering that question yet – so here goes. It follows on from Psalm 119:10… No, seriously, I know that is not what you are seeking. Sometimes when we look at our bibles we see a verse that stands out at us and we cannot quite see where it comes from or where it is going. Or maybe we think we know until someone asks us the question and then we struggle for an answer. But the most wonderful thing about God’s Word is that we will always be able to find the answers to our questions right in the words that we are looking at because God is the one who gave us these inspired words in the first place. Let us not get into an argument about which bible translation or anything because that will achieve nothing but one big stumbling block after another!
The words are simple – Please God, allow me to not go down that road of sin because I have got your words in my heart. That in itself makes us stop and think… If we are going down that sinful path then do we really have God’s Words in our hearts? The answer is not a simple yes or no because we live in a very tempting world. Right from the beginning of time we have been tempted to go down that sinful path because it seems like a good idea at the time. Just because we have God’s Word with us does not mean that we will avoid that sin. We can only avoid it if we are willing to allow God to strengthen us against those temptations. Is that a cop-out? Certainly not! Satan is the one who has the enormous power of temptation hanging over us. We are the ones who give in because it is so strong. We cannot and must not try to fight him alone because we will lose every time.
God knows our weaknesses and knows that we will give in to many things. That is why He gave us the bible. Where does a verse like this follow on from? It follows on from the admission of sin in our lives; it follows on from admitting that we are not strong enough. It follows on from being honest with God first of all!
Points to Ponder:
But why can’t I…?
Do you give in to Satan or to God?