Day of Praise

Wed, 09/28/16, "Day of Praise"

"I have hidden your word in my heart 
    that I might not sin against you." - Psalm 119:11

What's in it for me?

I'm confident that we're all familiar with that phrase. We usually, if not always, use "what's in it for me?" as a way of responding to someone who wants us to do something where they're going to come out ahead and/or there's a risk involved for us.

Throughout Psalm 119 we're called to praise and purity and pursuit of the LORD. I can hear someone, in response to all that we're called to in Psalm 119, asking God, "What's in it for me, God? What's in it for me? You want all this from me, but what's in it for me?"

Of course, God is God. And as God does with so many in the Bible who brazenly ask, "What's in it for me?", God in Psalm 119:11 is implicitly asking, "No, my child, I'm God; you're a mere mortal. I need to ask you, 'What's in it for me?' What's in it, that is, your heart, for me? What's in your heart for me?"

And the Psalmist responds, "Your word, Lord, your word is in my heart. I have hidden your word in my heart. So if the day ever comes when a Bible is nowhere to be found, then I can draw your word from my heart. When my children have a situation, I can draw your word from my heart. When I have reason to praise you, I can draw your word from my heart. When I am discouraged because the world or another sinner (like me) has hurt my heart again, I can draw your word from my heart so that my heart may be hurting but my heart will not fail because your word, O Lord, your word is hidden in my heart."

Not too long ago, there was a boy at church who came up to me every week and beamed like a star in the night as he eagerly told me the Bible verse(s) he had memorized that week. If you could have seen him as he shared the verse(s), you would have known that he knows "What's in it for me?" He knows the light and life and joy that's in a heart that is filled with God's word.

And he inspired me to the same.

Dear Lord, help me, help us all, to spend time with you through your word, that, hiding your word in our hearts, we may taste all that's in it for us and then draw your word from our hearts so we can speak it to others, inspiring them to hide your word in their heart too. Amen.

Praise God!

Pastor Chris 
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson

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