Hiding the Word, Resisting the Devil
Which passage of God’s Word are you presently memorizing?
Or better said, which passage are you currently hiding away in your heart?
In Psalm 119, David asks the question, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” and he answers it, “by guarding it according to your Word.” Just a couple verses later he says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Ps. 119:9, 11)
Do you desire to keep your way pure?
Do you really, really want to stop sinning?
If you don’t, then you should.
If you do want to stop practicing sin, how are you going about it? It is God that you want to stop sinning against, so have you asked him how to do it? If not, then you should because he has not only revealed his will that you ought to stop practicing sin (1 John 3:1-10), but he has also revealed ways to flee from evil and cling to good, and he has given us an example of what that looks like during temptation. (Matthew 4:1-11)
First, the way to stop practicing sin, the way to keep your way pure: Guard your way according to God’s Word. (Psalm 119:9) This requires knowing God’s Word, which means hearing it proclaimed by God’s pastors and also, if you can read, then reading it in your own home. But more than hearing it or reading it, the psalmist declares: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)
You need to hide God’s Word in your heart. Committing God’s Word to memory is part of this “hiding in your heart.” If you cannot recall what God has said, it is going to be impossible to apply what he has said to any of life’s circumstances or temptations. Repetition is a huge part of memorization, so pick a passage (or ask your pastor to pick a passage) and commit that passage to memory.
Once you can remember the words and phrases in order, then repeat them to yourself and recite them out loud and pray them to God and just simmer in them. Like a stewed potato, simmer until the flavor of those verses goes all the way to your core, which would be your heart.
Hide God’s Word in your heart.
Once it is hidden there, it is yours. Once it is hidden there, it no longer only belongs to the page of your Bible; it no longer only belongs in the mouth of your pastor. It has become yours. Once it is hidden there, the seed is down deep in the soil, much harder for the evil one to snatch away. (Matthew 13).
Secondly, if you want to stop practicing sin, God’s Word shows us how hiding his Word in your heart can help you resist temptation. Jesus himself was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1) If we know our Bibles, then we know that during the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites also entered the wilderness, and they were most certainly tempted there. How did they do against the temptations? If we know our Bibles, we know they did not do so well. Lots of sinning. Lots of complaining. Lots of adultery and idolatry.
So, as Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted, how did he do?
After fasting for forty days and becoming exceedingly hungry, as you could imagine, the devil tempted Jesus to command the stones to become bread. (Matthew 4:3) How did Jesus respond? He answered the devil, “It is written, ‘man shall not live live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Where was it written? In Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses said this exact thing to the Israelites as he recounted their journeys through the wilderness when they hungered and God gave them manna.
In the wilderness, Israel failed to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God, but when Jesus was in the wilderness, he did not fail. He kept his way pure by resisting temptation with God’s Word, which was hidden in his heart.
Then the devil took Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple and tempted him to throw himself off so that the angels could save him, Jesus replied, “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Why did Jesus say this? Where did he get that information about God? He remembered that Moses had said it to God’s people in Deuteronomy 6:16. The Israelites did put God to the test at Massah, doubting his presence with them when they had no water. (Exodus 17) But Jesus would not put God to the test. He knew God’s Word; he spoke God’s Word; he kept his way pure.
In the final temptation recorded in Matthew, the devil tempted Jesus to bow down to him. The devil promised to give Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world” if he would bow down and worship him. (Matthew 4:9) Jesus responds, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Why did he say that? You guessed it: Deuteronomy.
Then the devil left him.
Assuming Jesus did not have a bunch of scrolls with him, which he laid out on the ground to find the verses he needed, which is a REALLY safe assumption, he resisted the devil by speaking the Word he had hidden in his heart.
Don’t look at the examples of Jesus and make excuses about how hard this is going to be. That’s like Israel in the wilderness. Look at Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, and pray, “God make me like Him!” And if you want to be like him, then you will want to “keep your way pure” (Psalm 119:9) and you will hide God’s Word in your heart, so that when the devil comes tempting, you’ll be ready to resist.
So which passage of God’s Word are you presently hiding away in your heart?
