Two Essentials for Your Heart Col. 3:16 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
According to Col 3:16, there are two things God has given us that are essential for our hearts: the words of God and psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
We take for granted that we will always have our Bibles with us. Generally, we have one near by, but you can never have it closer to you than when it is hidden in your heart. Ps 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in my heart.” When you memorize scripture, the Lord can bring it to your remembrance [Jn 14:26] at any time and in any place. That’s how he talks with you. Darlene Deibler Rose wrote “Evidence Not Seen,” an autobiography that included the tale of her imprisonment in New Guinea during WWII. Daily, the Lord would speak to her through the verses she had committed to memory in her childhood. She had memorized many chapters of the Bible. And she needed much comfort, wisdom and direction to handle all of the atrocities of her treatment during the war. She would have never had the faith to survive her ordeal if the words of God had not been dwelling in her richly.
Furthermore, we should remember the words and melodies of hymns, psalms and spiritual songs. They provide great comfort and assurance to us in the time of our trials. Darlene Deibler Rose described the many occasions when the words and melodies of these songs came flooding into her heart. The night before she was to be executed, the Lord gave her 2 Cor 1:10. She believed that he was going to deliver her from execution. However, the next day, the guards came and brought her to the executioner. She was confused, thinking that she was going to be delivered. As the executioner drew his sword, she began to sing a hymn. This was not in defiance, but in worship of the Lord. Before the executioner could kill her, he was interrupted by an officer who had come to take Darlene back to her interment camp. God had delivered her and she was strengthened during this trial by the words and melody of a beautiful hymn.
Do not take Paul’s admonition in Col 3:16 lightly. We must commit much scripture to memory in our hearts and we must cherish and remember the hymns that encourage and strengthen us in times of distress and trial. They magnify the Lord and lift our hearts to him in praise. They draw us close to him and far from the problems at hand.