Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
There was a certain Jewish rabbi who was walking with his disciples closely behind. At one point his disciples asked him, “Teacher, why would Moses command that the words of God be on our hearts? Shouldn’t we place God’s word in our hearts?” The rabbi continued walking in silence for a while then stopped and turned to his disciples. “The heart of man is often hardened like stone and the words of God cannot be placed inside it. Therefore, we are to place the words on our hearts, layering them up one on top of another. Inevitably a time comes when our hearts will break and all of the words that were placed on the heart will fall in.”
We always need God’s words of comfort, direction, encouragement, hope, and love although some times we don’t think that we really need them. However, when we are in desperate need for His Wisdom, how much more impactful is it when the words of God well up from within you? Sure, you can do a google search and pull up hundreds of verses on whatever topic you want. But often, those are pull way out of context. They may sound nice, but having verses that you have memorized, studied the context, made a part of your life…those go so much deeper and are more meaningful.
Don’t wait until the day of trouble to start searching for God’s Word.