Latest / Chapel Talks / The Art of Seeking and Storing | Psalm 119:9-16 | Nathan Howard

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The Art of Seeking and Storing | Psalm 119:9-16 | Nathan Howard · Chapel Talks

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  And well, please open your Bibles again to Psalm
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  119, verse 9. That's where we're going to be
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  for a few moments. Just something that's grabbed
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  my heart fairly recently. Thought I'd share it
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  with you guys too this morning. Many of us will
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  have sung those song words, prone to wander,
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  Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
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  I wonder even if I... as I repeat them now, whether
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  that's something that you can relate to, if not
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  right in this moment, perhaps over the last week.
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  As a disciple of the Lord Jesus, that is something
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  that I would relate to very many times in my
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  life. I don't think there's a day that goes past
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  where in some way I don't feel the temptation
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  or the pressure to wander off the path that God
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  in his grace has set me on. Do you feel the same?
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  That way of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ
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  for the forgiveness of our sins. To wander off,
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  perhaps to try and regain that status with God
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  in another way. Perhaps it's that way of learning
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  to obey everything that the Lord has commanded
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  us, that path that he set us on. Perhaps it's
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  learning to live God's way rather than the world's
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  way. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone
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  to leave the God. I love. And that experience
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  is certainly the experience of the believer who
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  writes Psalm 119, isn't it? If you've got it,
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  just flick over to the end of the Psalm, which
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  I kind of understand frames the whole Psalm in
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  some way. But in verse 176, the psalmist writes,
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  I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant,
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  for I have not forgotten your commands. This
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  seems to frame the psalm, but it's an experience
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  we identify with, isn't it? Lord, I know your
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  commands. I've not forgotten them. I know what
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  I'm meant to do, and yet I've strayed. I've wandered
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  off, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone
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  to leave the God I love. And as believers, when
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  we live with that tension of knowing what it
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  is that God wants us to do, but proneness to
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  wander off, it can lead to the question that
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  the psalmist asks in verse 9, can't it? In verse
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  9, he asks that question, how can a young person
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  stay on the path of purity? How can I stay on
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  the path that I'm meant to be on? This path of
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  trusting the Lord Jesus, this path of learning
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  to obey him. How can I stay on that path? Now
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  notice he picks up on a young person, a young
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  man. Now that may be for multiple reasons. It
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  might be largely because young people are under
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  such pressure to walk off the path. As a man
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  with teenagers in my house, I really feel that.
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  Prone to wonder. There's this pressure on them
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  all the time. So maybe it's because young people
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  face that pressure. But maybe he focuses in on
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  young people because what you do when you're
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  young sets a pattern for what you do when you're
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  old. And he says, look, how can a young person,
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  how can we get the patterns right when we're
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  young so that we stay on the path of purity?
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  We are surrounded, aren't we, by voices drawing
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  us away, enticing us away every day from the
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  path of purity. Peer pressure, media pressure.
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  Sexual temptation, pursuit of pleasure. You know,
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  we're in a Bible college, but we're not immune
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  from those kind of pressures when we hunker down
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  in here and study. So how, how can I, how can
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  we stay on the right path? When we sing those
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  words in church or in chapel, prone to wonder,
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  Lord, I feel it. How can we decrease the number
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  of times that that really hits home? Well, wonderfully,
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  he offers his own answer, doesn't he, in the
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  psalm. Have a look at verse 9. How can a young
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  person stay on the path of purity? By living
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  according to your words. Now, in some ways you
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  think, well, that doesn't help me much, does
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  it? How do I stay on God's path? By doing what
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  God says. Well, you're like, oh, great. That's
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  like, you know, chuck me a bone with you. I know
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  that's true. By walking God's way is the way
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  we do it. But you want a little bit more, don't
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  you? But how can I do that? I know that's what
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  I should do. I know I should walk according to
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  his path. But how do I go about it? How do I
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  stay on this path, doing life God's way? The
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  question it leaves us with is, well, how? And
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  very simply this morning, I want to encourage
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  you to be a squirrel. That's what I want you
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  to do. If you want to stay on the path of purity,
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  you have to learn to be a squirrel. Now, before
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  you kick me out and think, did he learn nothing
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  when he was at college? Just think carefully
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  about a squirrel for a moment. They do two things,
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  don't they? And you're in a great place to watch
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  them. They do two things. They seek and they
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  store. Can you say those two with me? They seek
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  and they store. Good. If you remember that, you
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  can kick me out now. Two things that squirrels
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  do. If you watch them out there, they're just
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  scurrying around, but they're not aimlessly scurrying
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  around. They're seeking things. They're looking
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  for something. And when they find it, what do
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  they do with it? They store it. They put it away
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  for ready for use at another time. Squirrels
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  are amazing at these two tasks, seeking and storing.
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  And if we are going to grow in not wandering
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  off the path, we need to get good at these two
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  things, seeking and storing. We need to get good
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  at being like squirrels. We need to train our
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  Holy Spirit renewed hearts to be squirrels. And
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  that means we need to do two things. Number one,
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  we need to seek the Lord with all our hearts.
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  We need to seek him. Look at verse 10. The psalmist
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  goes on to say, I seek you with all my heart.
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  When it comes to purity, when it comes to making
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  those right decisions every day, when we're faced
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  with, you know, am I going to blow it here? Am
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  I going to say something stupid here? Or am I
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  going to look at this on the internet? Whatever
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  it is that challenge you face. When we get to
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  those moments, we need God's help. You can't
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  do it by yourself. I'm 47 years old, but every
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  time I do DIY, I still call my dad. I still seek
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  his help. DIY stands for destroy it yourself
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  in my life. And when I'm in trouble and I need
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  help, I reach out. I call my dad. Dad! Where
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  do I put the blue wire again? He's like, well,
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  have you turned off the electricity? I'm like,
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  well, no, not yet. He says, well, don't do anything
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  with the blue wire. Every time I'm in trouble,
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  I seek my dad, 47 years old. But when we face
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  trials as Christians and temptations and the
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  proneness to wander, where do we reach? The psalmist
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  says, I seek you, Lord, with all my heart. I
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  seek his help. And the psalmist seems to seek
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  God in two particular ways. He seeks him, first
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  of all, as protector. Look at verse 10. I seek
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  you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from
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  your commands. He looks to the Lord for help
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  and protection against going astray. It is his
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  divine help. It is his divine power through the
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  Holy Spirit. that will keep my feet on the right
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  path. That's why Jesus taught us to pray, lead
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  us not into temptation, lifting your eyes to
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  heaven and say, please protect me. Do you pray
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  like that in the morning? And as you started
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  today, did you say, Lord, protect me today from
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  wandering from your paths? It's how the song
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  goes, isn't it? Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
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  it. Prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart.
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  And take and seal it. Seal it from your courts
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  above. We look up. We seek the Lord if we want
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  to stop straying. So we seek him as protector,
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  but we also seek him as teacher. Have a look
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  at verse 12. Just over the page. Praise be to
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  you, Lord. Teach me your decrees. We need God
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  to teach us the paths we should be walking. We
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  need him to teach us the way we should be going.
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  Jordan started by reading Titus chapter 2. That
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  the grace of God has appeared and it teaches
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  us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions.
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  We need teaching. And if I am going to stop straying
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  from the paths I'm meant to walk, then I need
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  to seek the Lord as my teacher. Lord, teach me
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  today. Teach me the way I should go. Do you pray
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  like that? Lord, show me what to do. Show me
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  the path I should walk today. So you see, we've
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  got to be a squirrel. We've got to seek the Lord
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  with all our heart. We seek him as a protector.
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  We seek him as the teacher. Apart from him, we
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  can do nothing. That's what Jesus said, isn't
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  it? So seek him. But squirrels don't just seek,
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  they also... I'm glad some of you are still here.
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  That's good. We store God's word in our hearts.
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  See, look at verse 11. Having sought the Lord,
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  verse 10, with all his heart, he says, I have
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  hidden your word in my heart that I might not
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  sin against you. How do we keep ourselves from
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  wandering from the right path? By storing up
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  God's words in our hearts. In the very engine
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  room of your decision -making life, you store
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  God's word there. Some of you remember back in
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  the COVID days that people went crazy on toilet
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  rolls. They stored up toilet rolls ready in their
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  cupboards to use when they needed them. And that's
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  the picture that we're given about hiding God's
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  word in our heart. It's not burying it so you
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  can't find it. That's what the word hidden kind
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  of gives you the impression of. I'm burying it
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  and one day I'll find it again. The hidden idea
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  here is the idea of storing it up for ready for
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  use. Like squirrels, they put things places and
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  they know exactly where they put them so they
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  can go and find them when they need them. And
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  we are to put God's word, store it up in our
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  hearts, ready to use. When that pressure comes,
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  when that temptation comes, it's right there.
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  Right in the place where you make those decisions
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  and those choices. And we see this embodied,
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  don't we, most clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Think of his temptations in the wilderness. Think
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  of his time in the Garden of Gethsemane. How
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  did Jesus in his humanity stay on the path of
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  purity? Well, he did it using the word of God
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  that was hidden in his heart. He did it. Bible
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  just poured out of Jesus. He didn't have you
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  version on his phone. He had to hide it, store
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  it away in his heart so that when those temptations
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  and trials came, it was right there, right there
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  to use. And how did Jesus get it there? That's
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  the question to think about, isn't it? How did
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  Jesus get it in his heart? Now, you're all good
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  Bible college students, so you'll know. We're
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  tempted, aren't we? We could be tempted to think,
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  well, it's because he was the son of God. He
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  wrote it anyway, so of course he knows it. No,
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  he got it there in his spirit -filled humanity
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  by doing what this psalm commands us to do, to
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  be a squirrel. He sought his heavenly father
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  with all his heart and he stored it away in his
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  heart from a young person, from a young man.
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  That's why at 12 years old you see him in the
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  temple, because he was someone who knew that
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  he needed to store God's words away in his heart
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  so that when that temptation came, he could stay
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  on the path of purity. If it's not a reverent,
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  Jesus was the model squirrel. He sought his heavenly
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  father and he stored up God's word. And so how
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  do we do that? You know, it's great to say, OK,
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  well, let's store it up. But how do we go about
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  it? And the psalm actually just throws us a few
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  top tips for storing God's word in our hearts.
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  And actually it does it with three R's. OK, and
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  here they are. We recount it, we rejoice in it
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  and we reflect on it. That's the way that we
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  can store God's word up in our heart. We recount
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  it. Have a look at verse 13. Verse 13. With my
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  lips, I recount all the laws that come from your
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  mouth. Or literally, with my mouth, I recount
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  what comes from your mouth. That's literally
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  what it reads. And if you've ever tried memorizing
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  parts of the Bible, probably some of you are
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  fantastic at it. I've met people who can recite
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  whole books of the Bible to me. But if you're
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  not quite so good at it as me, one of the things
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  that can really, not as me, I'm rubbish at it,
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  but the people I've met who are good at it. If
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  you want to get good at it, one of the things
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  that helps is saying it out loud and recounting
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  it, sort of repeating it, walking down the street,
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  saying a verse out loud is a great way to get
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  God's word stored up in our hearts. Recounting
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  the gospel, recounting verses from the Bible
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  is one of the ways that really helps. As kids,
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  when my kids were younger, we used to try and
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  retell Bible stories walking down the road. We
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  just used to say, oh, go on, tell us the story
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  of Noah. And then one of them would start it
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  off and another one would try and chip in and
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  we'd try and remember bits here and there because
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  actually it's a great way to get those stories
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  from the shelves into our hearts. It's something
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  we're not meant to do just privately, but we're
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  meant to do corporately as well, aren't we? In
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  Colossians, Paul tells the church there that
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  the message of Christ dwell among you richly
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  as you teach and admonish one another with all
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  wisdom through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
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  We're meant to let the word of God be recounted
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  on our lips, telling it over and over again so
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  that it helps it store it away in our hearts.
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  So we recount it, but we're also to rejoice in
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  it. Have a look at verse 14. I rejoice in following
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  your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
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  And again, verse 16, I delight, he says in your
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  decrees. I will not neglect your words. Take
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  time. If you want to store God's word in your
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  heart, take time to delight in it. Don't just
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  whiz through it and say, oh, I've read it now
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  or I've remembered it now. Take time to rejoice
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  and to delight in the things that you're reading.
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  Nothing quite helps like songs to get God's word
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  stored up and to delight in something. It's a
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  good plug for why you should sing songs that
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  have the Bible in it. When you get to churches
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  and you get responsible for picking songs, make
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  sure that they're biblical. Because that's the
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  way that the word gets stored up in our hearts.
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  Delight yourselves in the things you're remembering.
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  So recount it, rejoice in it. Verse 15. reflect
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  on it. I meditate on your precepts and consider
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  your ways. You know, we've got to take time meditating.
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  We've got to take time to pull something out
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  of the store cupboard and to have a think about
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  it and to pursue it. You know, some people just
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  keep kind of treasures, don't they, behind a
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  wall or a cupboard and look at all my trophies
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  or look at all these things I've got. Actually,
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  what we're meant to do is to take it out of the
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  cupboard and we're meant to look at it and turn
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  it around and have a think about it. And actually,
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  these words of God that are stored up in us,
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  we're meant to bring them out and meditate on
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  it, chew on it, think about it. How does this
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  principle apply? You know, when you go for a
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  walk or when you're driving down the road, just
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  take one out. Pull something out of the store
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  cupboard and say, let me think about this. What
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  does that mean? What does that look like? How
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  does this apply to me? Chew it over. And so the
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  psalmist, you see, gives us three R's to help
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  us store God's word, recount it, rejoice in it,
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  and reflect on it. So I'm not insane, but please
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  take my encouragement to be a squirrel. Be a
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  squirrel. Because if we come back to that question
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  in verse 9, how can a young person, how can any
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  of us stay on the path of purity? Well, he says
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  there, by living according to the word. But how?
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  How do we do that? How do we live according to
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  the word? Well, we are a squirrel. We seek God's
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  help and we store it away in our hearts. We recount
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  it. We rejoice in it. We reflect on it so that
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  we might stay with God's help on the path of
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  purity. Shall I pray that in for us? And then
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  we'll come to the Lord's table. Our God and our
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  Father in heaven, we want to say thank you for
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  the Psalms. Thank you for the precious gift they
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  are to us in helping us to know the experience
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  of living the life of following you. Father,
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  thank you that you call us to faith in the Lord
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  Jesus Christ. You call us to a life of obedience
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  to him. resonate again and again with those words
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  prone to wonder lord we feel it prone to leave
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  you the god we love and so we simply come this
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  morning wanting to seek your help that we would
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  not stray from your paths that you would protect
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  us that you would teach us that we would walk
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  in your paths and we pray to please that we would
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  be those who work hard at storing your words
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  in our hearts that we would take time to recount
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  it with our lips, that we would rejoice in your
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  word, not just study it and move on, and that
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  we would reflect on the things that you have
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  shown us. Father, we long to be more like Christ,
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  who had your word stored in his heart. Father,
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  we thank you for all that he modelled to us in
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  his spirit -filled humanity of how to do what
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  this psalm talks about. And so, Father, please
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  help us to be more like him. In Jesus' name.
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  Amen.