Jó 23

Jó 23:12

Maclaren comments (Ps 119:11): THE DEEP, INWARD SECRET OF ALL NOBLE, AND ESPECIALLY OF ALL DEEP, REAL, CHRISTIAN LIFE. “Thy Word have I hid in my heart.” This means, first, familiarity with your Bible. Do not let any notion that God speaks “at sundry times and in divers manners,” not only in Scripture, but otherwise, in providences, and in the world, and in our own hearts, cause us to neglect, as this generation does neglect, the systematic, diligent, daily perusal of Holy Scripture. You cannot hide the Word of God in your heart if you neglect, as so many of us do, the most articulate utterance of that Word in that Book, which, whatever may be the theories about the way it came into being, is the Word of the living God. Then there is another way by which we hide the Word in our hearts. It is, to cultivate the habit of referring everything to God’s will. There must also be loving submission to what we know to be God’s will. Put the will of God into your heart, and it will be like a bit of camphor wrapped up in some fur garment; it will keep all the moths off. Illustration - Word in the heart a defence: — The early settlers in America had to keep their guns within reach while about their work on the farm, for the Indians might come upon them unawares. Our foe, the devil, is quite as likely to take us when off guard. We need to have our weapon at all times within reach. It is not probable that our Saviour had the Scriptures in His hands when Satan came to Him in the wilderness, but He had laid up the truth in His heart so that no surprise was possible. Anonymous (Ps 119:11) - The Word must be in the heart as power and life; controlling the thoughts — the motives — the principles. In the heart. Hid in the heart. Laid up there; made secure there against the robbery of sin, Satan, skepticism, etc. The Word of God, in its doctrines, precepts, promises, threatenings, examples, is a power in man which no other word can be. It teaches; it restrains; it warns; it guides; it saves. Things which we value; which are essential for certain ends, we preserve in the most secure places; as deeds, jewels, wills, etc. So a good man hides the Word of God in his heart; so that in times of danger it is safe. A priest once took a Bible from a boy, and burnt it. The boy said to him, “You cannot burn the Word which I have in my heart.” It was the Word of God hid in the heart that made the apostles so courageous in work and sufferings; that made martyrs so true and faithful; that now makes Christians so unyielding to the world’s jeers, persecution, and atheism. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but God’s Word, hid in the heart, endures for ever. (Anon.) John Stephen comments (Ps 119:11): Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. There laid up in the heart the word has effect. When young men only read the letter of the Book, the word of promise and instruction is deprived of much of its power. Neither will the laying of it up in the mere memory avail. The word must be known and prized, and laid up in the heart; it must occupy the affection as well as the understanding; the whole mind requires to be impregnated with the word of God. Revealed things require to be seen. Then the word of God in the heart -- the threatenings, the promises, the excellencies of God's word -- and God himself realized, the young man would be inwardly fortified; the understanding enlightened, conscience quickened -- he would not sin against his God. John Stephen. Dean Boys (Ps 119:11) - Thy word have I hid in mine heart. It is fit that the word, being "more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold," a peerless pearl, should not be laid up in the porter's lodge only -- the outward ear; but even in the cabinet of the mind. Dean Boys, quoted by James Ford. William Cowper (Ps 119:11) - Thy word have I hid in mine heart. There is great difference between Christians and worldlings. The worldling hath his treasures in jewels without him; the Christian hath them within. Neither indeed is there any receptacle wherein to receive and keep the word of consolation but the heart only. If thou have it in thy mouth only, it shall be taken from thee; if thou have it in thy book only, Thou shalt miss it when thou hast most to do with it; but if thou lay it up in thy heart, as Mary did the words of the angel, no enemy shall ever be able to take it from thee, and thou shalt find it's comfortable treasure in time of thy need. William Cowper. Thomas Watson comments on treasuring the Word… O, prize the word written; prizing is the way to profiting. If Caesar so valued his Commentaries, that for preserving them he lost his purple robe, how should we estimate the sacred oracles of God? “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than any necessary food” (Job 23:12KJV) King Edward the Sixth, on the day of his coronation, had presented before him three swords, signifying that he was monarch of three kingdoms. The king said, there was one sword wanting; being asked what that was, he answered, “The Holy Bible, which is the sword of the Spirit, and is to be preferred before these ensigns of royalty.” Robert King of Sicily did so prize God’s word, that, speaking to his friend Petrarcha, he said, “I protest, the Scriptures are dearer to me than my kingdom; and if I must be deprived of one of them, I had rather lose my diadem than the Scriptures.”—Thomas Watson, in “The Morning Exercises.” Matthew Henry… I have laid it up (the word), as those that lay up provision for a siege, or as Joseph laid up corn before the famine… The word of God is to our souls what our necessary food is to our bodies; it sustains the spiritual life and strengthens us for the actions of life; it is that which we cannot subsist without, and which nothing else can make up the want of: and we ought therefore so to esteem it, to take pains for it, hunger after it, feed upon it with delight, and nourish our souls with it; and this will be our rejoicing in the day of evil, as it was Job's here. WORDS FROM THE ALMIGHTY GOD Words (amar) refers most often to direct conversation (Ge 1:3, 3:1, 10, etc, Balaam's donkey Nu 22:28). His Words - This most likely does not refer to the Law given to Moses at Mt Sinai (which had probably not been given) but more likely refers to any Word received from God (cp Jer 9:20). God's Word is compared (see metaphor) to bread (Mt 4:4 Dt 8:3, cp Mt 6:11-note), meat (He 5:14KJV-note Jn 4:34KJV), food (He 5:14-note, Jn 4:34 cp Ezek 2:8 Jer 15:16 Josh 1:8-note), pure milk (1Pe 2:2-note), honey (Ps 19:10-note Ps 119:103-note Ezek 3:3 Rev 10:10-note), all of which seem to present us a clear "message" from the Lord that His Word must not only be tasted but digested and assimilated (absorbed and incorporated) into our "spiritual being (inner man)."