Your Word I Have Hidden In My Heart

"Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." (1)

Sin has been defined as "To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (2) According to the dictionary, sin is to commit any offense, misdemeanor, or fault, do wrong, to break a religious law or a moral principle, especially through a willful act. When we knowingly and willfully do something that is harmful to others, or to our self, that is sin.

God Himself has defined what is harmful. We are not to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or lie to anyone, and not covet anything that belongs to someone else. He has also defined what is good and what should be honored and respected. That includes respecting Him as the Creator of "the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them". We are to respect no other "gods" before Him, to not make or serve any "carved image" of any likeness in the heaven above, or in the earth beneath, to not take His name in vain, to remember His Sabbath day, to keep it holy in honor of His creation, and to respect and honor our human parents. (3)

Worship is reserved only for the One who created all things. People, images and things are not to be worshiped. To know God is to love and respect Him for His wise ways. Getting to truly know Him will extend our existence to the life that is beyond this temporal existence of 3, 4 or 5 score years. (4) Getting to know Him we see the superiority of His ways.

David said it beautifully, "God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah, that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Selah. (5)

1. Psalm 119:11.
2. James 4:17.
3. Exodus 20:1-17.
4. John 17:3.
5. Psalm 67:1-4.