What I mean is that we have a system of dealing with finances. Glen pays the bills which are due and I save for those bills and events which are in the future.
I save for things which will come up later in the year, such as the flood insurance, or Christmas. I save for things which may come up in a year or two, such as a vacation or special events. I even save for things which will occur many years from now, such as my grandchildren's graduations. To accomplish this, I set aside a certain amount from each payday for each of these specific things. In a sense, this money is hidden away for the time it will be used.
When we read the Bible there is also a present and a future.
We read passages and they present the truth of the Lord to us in that reading. We may not have a great illumination of any specific truth, but we know the Lord is still speaking to us through His Word. That Word also becomes hidden away in our hearts, hidden for a future time.
As we read the Scriptures consistently, the word hidden in our hearts builds upon itself. One upon another, little by little, or as the Scriptures themselves say, "precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Before we know it, the Scriptures create a tapestry in our hearts revealing more and more of the Lord Jesus.
It may be that we have a particular question regarding a passage or issue in our lives. As we create this hidden tapestry of Scripture, the Word begins to interpret itself. Perhaps a passage we have read from the Old Testament complements one in the Gospels we are currently reading. The one helps to illuminate the truth from the other.
As important as it is for me to plan and save for future events, how much more important it is to have a hidden vault of Scripture in my heart which the Lord can bring to my mind in times of need.
Glen wrote the other day in The Special of the Day. . . From the Orange Moon Cafe how he loves to read and re-read the Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He said that the stories provide "ongoing enjoyment despite my many and repeated readings of the tales." When one loves a book, it is a pleasure to read it again no matter how many times one has read it in the past. The same is true of the Scriptures. We may know parts of passages by heart and still love to read them again. This is how we hide that Word away in our hearts.
May we all begin to build that vault of Scriptures in our hearts for the future, whether it be one minute, one year or one decade.
"Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.
I will meditate in Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."
Psalm 119: 11, 15, 105
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