Do you ever think that trouble seems to come and find you? Boy, I certainly think so. If anyone knows how to find trouble, I do, and trouble knows where to find me as well. What kind of trouble you may ask? It varies, and it depends on what is making me weak in those moments. You see, I think our enemy knows our weaknesses and he uses every which way to get my attention and get me down paths that he knows I have no business going. How I’ve handled things in the past, are different than how I’m trying to handle them now – but only by the grace of God.
As my walk with God is changing, so is my reaction to things that used to be used as weapons or things to tempt me. I keep thinking of the passage, ‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you’ in Psalm 119:11 NIV. More and more I’m finding that when doubt and fear and temptation of any kind set in, I’m able to pull an encouraging passage from mind or a snippet of a song, just in the moment that I need it. Please do not misread this to say that I do not have struggles and I’ve been made perfect. Far from it. I’m just learning that the more I walk and talk with Jesus, the more He equips me before hand of things I need to know. I’m finding that my steps are being guided, and He is answering before I even call sometimes.
Jesus himself provided a very poignant lesson on hiding God’s word so deep in His heart so that when He was tempted, He did not sin. The passage is found in Matthew, Mark and John, but I’ll use the one found in Matthew 4:1-11. When He had been fasting for forty days and forty nights, the devil came to tempt Jesus. At this point, Jesus would be at His weakest, and hungriest, so the devil went straight to the thing that would tempt Jesus the most – food. Jesus responded: ‘it is written’… He provides the same response for the other two temptations as well: ‘it is written’… Jesus knew His Father’s words so well, that He was able to pull them out and use them when He needed them most.
Matthew 12:14 also states, ‘Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks’. This is yet a reminder that whatever we have in our hearts, that it will overflow into what comes out of our minds and mouths.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to hide your words so deep in our hearts that they are the first things to come out when we find ourselves in questionable situations. Lord, help us to continue to grow in your wisdom and love, knowing that it’s only through a relationship with you, that we will want to and be able to search your word and bury them in our hearts, and be able to pull them out in times of need.