Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. [Psalm 119:11]
While recently helping my wife with a huge online file download of pictures for a eulogy presentation, the link came with confusing instructions. We couldn’t see the download button and wanted to avoid the time-consuming task of individually downloading numerous pictures. Thankfully, we finally determined how to “download all” and clicked that button. I recall saying, “Let’s just do what it says and let it do what it does.” Upon clicking the right button, the process did the rest of the work—saving us incredible time.
God’s Word: Critical Spiritual Download
As we worked, I thought of how that simple truth also applies to Scripture. I may not fully understand how what I read specifically applies to the situations, circumstances, or spiritual development of my life at that moment. Sure, I want to know, I study and research it, trying to discover what it says, what it means, and how it applies. But I act in faith when I simply do what it says and let it do what it does. I walk in the light God gives in that moment and trust Him to enlighten what I don’t presently know or will need to apply at a later time. Either way, I keep “downloading” God’s Word and allow it to “do what it does.”
The Bible isn’t simply a book to be read through like all other books. It is the living, breathing, working love letter from our Creator—similar to a spiritual owner’s manual. As we read it, step by step, “precept upon precept, line upon line…here a little, there a little” [Isaiah 28:10], we apply what we know when we know it. Then the supernatural happens. The Holy Spirit of God activates that spiritual download and does His silent, invisible, incredible work in our lives. Slowly but surely, as we “hide” God’s Word in our hearts and surrender to His direction, leading, and whispering, He stores what we need for when we need it. Through His ongoing transformation, we find the necessary “files” strategically “saved” where God sovereignly knew we would need them.
How comforting to know God does His perfect work in and through us—and life works better—as we “download” His Word into our hearts.
