A Heart for God’s Word
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 119:11
The first Monday night in September 1982, I remember praying, Oh, God, I’ve married the wrong man. We’d been married just three months.
That night I was ready at the kitchen table with my Bible and my Bible study book, expecting Ken to “be my hands” and fill in the answers on my study. He had promised to help me.
Instead, I eyed him loading up his arms from the fridge and heading into the living room with chips and salsa to spend the night watching Monday Night Football.
As I watched him disappear around the corner, I fretted, He is not a man of God’s Word! Lord, he doesn’t care about your Word!
Over the ensuing weeks, I nagged him, cajoled, whined, and complained. Then I came across Philippians 2:4 where it says not to do anything out of vain conceit or selfish ambition. Immediately I was convicted. I had been trying to change Ken into the man I thought he should be.
From then on, every Monday night while Ken watched football, I prayed for my husband (at least through ‘halftime’). All season long, I asked God to give Ken a love for his Word and to make me a better wife.
And by the time Super Bowl rolled around, I saw a miracle. I had become a football fan.
Through those hours of prayer for my husband, God changed my heart. He also answered my intercessions in a way far beyond my expectations. Over the years, Ken and I have enjoyed cheering on favorite teams together… and also cheering one another on as we grow in our love for each other and for God through his Word. For 20 years, we’ve read through the Bible each year as a couple. Each of us has also made a priority of memorizing scripture; frankly, the number of passages Ken has memorized astounds me (he can recite by heart the entire Sermon on the Mount; that’s three chapters in the Gospel of Matthew).
The knowledge of God’s Word converts our soul and renews our mind. From my first application of Philippians 2:4 toward my selfish, conceited heart… all the way to our reading in 2 Kings this morning, God has richly rewarded our intentionality to store up his Word in our hearts.
And God will do the same for you.
Pray with me: Lord, I ask that you would grow in me a love for your Word. Stir up in me a desire to have scripture dwell in me in such a way that it will transform me, helping me turn away from sin and grow in Christlikeness.
Pressing On: How to Lean on Christ through Suffering
After more than 55 years living with quadriplegia and chronic pain, Joni Eareckson Tada knows what it means to “press on” through suffering. Joni encourages you to join her in living out Philippians 3:14: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
