by Dr. Lynn Lease
Several years ago, at a previous job, I was going through a season of tremendous struggle due to a very difficult-to-work with colleague. It was a daily trial filled with anxiety, turmoil, dodging encounters in the hallway, and dread sitting in meetings with her. It was wearing me down physically, mentally, and emotionally, and it was a season of wrestling in my spirit: wanting to stand up for what was right, while also fearing retribution from the other side.
I was sitting at dinner out at a restaurant with my husband, my kids, and my parents-in-law. I was sitting there really silently struggling with a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness, when suddenly a verse came to mind. I could not recite it word-for-word or even tell what book and chapter it was from. So I asked my family, “What is that verse that says something like, ‘Whatever is true, pure lovely?’ I don’t know the rest.” Now, this was before the days of smartphones with Google. And in fact, I think I still had a flip-phone or even a slider-phone at that time. Anyway, we discussed the verse at dinner together and tried to remember exactly what it says and what book it was from.
After dinner, we all decided on a whim to go over to a Restore Habitat For Humanity store where they sell used home items like donated cabinets and doors, sinks, and stuff like that. My husband and I were renovating our home at the time.
We walked into the store and hanging on the wall was this huge tapestry. And guess what was on that tapestry? Philippians 4:8 (NIV): “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworth – think about such things.”
I couldn’t believe it. I stopped. I stood there staring at this tapestry pointing at it. And I just started to cry. What a blessing. That was a direct message, a direct reminder from God. He cared enough about me to take me there and to bless me, but also to remind me to think on these things, not to dwell on, focus on and think on, all the crud I was struggling with, but to hand to hand it all over to Him in exchange for thoughts about all the good He has for me.
Now, the real lesson here is that Philippians 4:8 had been hidden in my heart. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Now, what is hiding the word in your heart? What does this mean? When we hide something, we’ve not forgotten it, but we’ve tucked it away into a special place so that we can retrieve it later when we need it. And in the meantime, no one else can take it from us because it is hidden.
So how do we hide the word in our heart? Well, we first need to be spending time in the word: reading it, meditating on it, memorizing it, praying about it, talking about it, and sharing it with others. This is the only way to hide it away. We must first seek it, study it, and allow it to penetrate both our mind and our heart. And the enemy cannot steal that away from us because what we have in our hearts is only seen and known by God. Our heart is a place hidden to the enemy.
When we are faced with difficult challenges, difficult situations of any kind, the Holy Spirit can retrieve and reveal to us the word which we have hidden away. He can bring to mind the words only He knows we need to hear whispered back to our minds. And He can even reveal it to us on a large tapestry hanging on a wall.
I want to encourage you to slow down, take time, read the word: study it, meditate on it, and pray about it. Meditate on it and pray about it, and ask God to tuck it deep into your heart so that it can be whispered back to you when you are most in need of direction and hope.
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