I recently published an article, entitled “There is STILL Hope For 2020”. You can find it here:
http://www.scottduck.com/there-is-still-hope-for-2020/
In that article, I looked at several verses of Scripture that pertain to our current situation with the Coronavirus and I offered some commentary on all that Scripture as a whole. However, I did not go into much detail on any of those individual passages of Scripture. I would like to begin to do that now, starting with the first two verses of Scripture that I shared in that article.
Psalm 119
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
This is the first verse of Scripture that I previously shared. Psalm 119 is all about God’s Word, about the importance of loving and studying it. In order to love God’s Word, we have to really get to know and love the One who created it, God Himself. God is not just whoever we want to imagine that He is. He is who He is (Exodus 3:14). Getting to know God involves getting to know His Word. The more we study God’s Word, the better we will know His Word. The better we know His Word, the better we will know Him. The better we know Him, the more we will love Him. The more we love Him, the more we will want to know Him. The more we want to know Him, the more we will be motivated to study His Word. And the cycle continues on and on. I think this is at least part of what James was talking about in James 4:8, when he said “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”.
In verse 11, David talks about hiding God’s Word in his heart. Hiding God’s Word in our heart is part of this cycle I was just talking about. It’s a basic and essential component of building a relationship with God.
Psalm 46
10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
I think this is is one of the simplest and yet one of the most important verses in Scripture. If we want to have a relationship with God, we have to get to know Him. Like building any relationship, building a relationship with God takes time. However, many of us lead such busy lives that we don’t make the time to spend with Him. With the Coronavirus situation, many of our lives have just gotten much less busy. Don’t misunderstand what God is saying here. This is not a timid suggestion. It is a command, and it is vital that we obey it. There are many down sides to the current situation but one up side is that we have more time to spend getting to know God. That would be an excellent use of some of the extra time that many of us now have.
Our relationship with Christ, like any relationship, requires communication. If you don’t talk to someone and listen to what they have to say, if you don’t communicate with them, then you can’t really have a relationship with them. Our relationship with Christ is no different. He speaks to us primarily through His Word. That won’t just happen. We have to set aside time to spend with Him and we have to make an effort to make doing that a real priority. God very much wants a relationship with us and so He will help us to do that but He won’t do it for us.
Notice that David speaks of hiding God’s Word in his heart, not in his brain. It isn’t enough to just know Scripture. We must live it.
James 1:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
This is the second verse of Scripture that I previously shared and I think this single verse is very convicting to all of us, or at least it should be, if we really think about it. Many of us go to church frequently and some of us have our quiet time with God every day but none of us live out God’s Word perfectly (Romans 3:10 and 3:23). Let’s look at the entire passage so that we can take this verse in the proper context.
James 1:
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Verse 21 basically tells us to begin to get our hearts right by running from sin. Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Sin is a huge deal to God. If we want to have a close relationship with God, we have to repent, to turn from our sin. This doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect. We cannot be perfect, we cannot meet God’s standard of righteousness (see Romans 3:10 and 3:23) and this is still true, even after salvation. We should not beat our head against a wall, trying to be good enough. If we have sin that we’re having a hard time getting a handle on, that absolutely does not mean that God does not love us. However, we should not try to kid ourselves that unrepentant sin does not negatively impact our relationship with God because it absolutely does. The importance of repentance to God is a theme that runs throughout scripture in both the Old and New Testament (Mark 1:15, Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Psalms 32:5, Psalms 41:4, Psalms 69:5, just to name a few). Even Christians still struggle with sin but we must see our sin for what it is, an abomination before a completely holy God. We must truly be remorseful to God and always strive to turn from sin. We must realize that the only way that we can be reconciled with God is through the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. As we come to know Him better, as we implant His Word in our heart and allow Him to change our heart, we will find sin easier to resist.
Notice that this verse says that we are to receive His Word into our heart with meekness. We must realize that it is God who sets the standard, for absolutely everything, even when we don’t fully understand His standard. In Genesis 3:4-6, the Devil told Eve that if she ate of the forbidden fruit, then she would know good from evil, like God. He was telling her that she could set her own standard for right and wrong. That was a lie and it is a lie that we still tend to believe. We sometimes only pay attention to the Scripture that we’re comfortable with, that conforms to our standard. Remember, we don’t get to say who God is. He is Who He is. Similarly, His Word is what It is. We don’t get to change It or ignore the parts of It that we aren’t comfortable with. We must let it change us, not the other way around.
Verse 22 tells us to be doers of the Word. Sitting through a sermon or reading some Scripture is easy and it may make us feel better about ourselves, especially when we think about other people who don’t do that, but just hearing the sermon or reading the Scripture, in itself, means nothing. If we think we are different than nonbelievers just because we go to church and read our Bible, verse 22 tells us that we are deceiving ourselves.
Verses 23 through 25 expound on this a bit. One reason for God’s Word, especially the law contained within it, is to demonstrate to us and remind us that we cannot be good enough on our own, that we must rely on Christ and His sacrifice which paid our sin debt. In order to rely on Him, we have to know Him. His Word both reminds us that we need Him and helps us to truly know Him, so that He may guide us, so that He can help us to turn from sin and reveal His love to the world. If we just hear the Word and look at the Word and do not meditate on it and take it to heart, then we go away from the experience unchanged. Hearing but not doing the Word is like looking in a mirror with our eyes closed so we don’t see what needs changing. We do not see much of our sin as sin and so it still separates us from Him and it continues to taint our relationship with Him and our witness for Him. However, if we do take the Word to heart and meditate on it and act on it, then we will draw closer to Him and He will bless what we do for Him.
Verses 26 and 27 further emphasize the importance of practicing what we preach, so to speak. If we think we are religious, because we go to church and maybe read the Bible, then we are religious but that is all we are, religious. We are not actually following Him. That kind of religion is useless in God’s eyes. True religion, true Christianity, requires living out God’s Word. An essential part of that is living out His love (Mark 12:30-31).
So, I have a question for you. Are you studying God’s Word? If so, are you just hiding it in your brain,, where it is useless to God, or are you hiding it in your heart, where it will transform your life and the lives of those you touch? In recent years, our lives need transforming more than ever. In recent days, just maybe, many of us will be more open to letting God do that transformation in and through us. I want to let Him do that both in and through me. Don’t you? As always, there is no better time to begin or strengthen your relationship with God than now. One of the most foundational things in doing that is regularly getting in His Word and really hiding it in your heart. If you start really making an effort to do that, God will bless that effort and, I promise you, you will be glad you did!
