Saturday was our men’s prayer breakfast.  It was a very good meeting.  We ate too many pancakes and discussed Psalm 119:11.  In this verse David writes:

“Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.”

Other translations say, “Thy word have I hidden in my heart.”  In this verse, David is painting a picture of someone who places a high value and priority on God’s word.  As we discussed the picture given to us in this psalm I shared this story with my friends.  The other day I walked into the living room and my granddaughter Avery who is 3 years old was sitting in my recliner and holding a can of cashews watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  She had gone into the pantry, found the cashews, opened them up and taken them to the living room and now she was in my chair, eating them one after the other.   My main source of consternation was that this was a can that I was saving for myself.  I had been planning all week on opening that can and munching on those cashews while I watched a football game.

Now, just a few days later, after another trip to the grocery store to buy another can of cashews for the weekend (because you would be amazed at how many cashews a three year old can eat while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) I decided I better hide that can somewhere that Avery could not find them.  I put them in my room instead of the kitchen pantry which is where she got them last time.  While I do not mean to defame the Holy Scriptures I guess one could say, “Those cashews have I hidden in my room so that they might not be taken from me.” 

I went out of my way to protect my cashews.  It’s funny how we will make plans for snacks and football games and place priorities on such trivial things.  I know that there are times when it seems that I am much less possessive of my devotional and Bible times than I am of much less important things.  I also know that when I hide God’s word in my heart, when I treasure it above all other things, He guides me and leads me in the way I should go.  I know that when I make God’s word my priority I make better decisions, I treat people with more compassion and I do a better job of walking by faith.  I even find the kindness and strength to share cashews!

I pray that the Lord will help me to do a better job of treasuring His word…and help me to hide it in my heart.