The most important of all God’s commandments (Mk 12:29-30), to love God with all our heart, soul and might (De 6:5), is immediately followed by and interconnected with a related command: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.” (De 6:6)
God is essentially telling us what receiving Him looks like, how we love Him: by receiving and loving His words, hiding the actual words of His precious commands in our hearts. (Ps 119:11)
His Word is our spiritual food (Je 15:16); meditating on scripture is how we nourish ourselves. (Ps 1:2-3) To do this as we ought, we must make the effort to learn the words of God; we call it memorization.
God’s words are eternal (1Pe 1:25), jewels of spiritual life (Jn 6:63), alive and powerful (He 4:12), able to quicken us (Ps 119:50); our response to them is our response to Him. (Jn 12:48) He calls Himself The Word. (Jn 1:1)
We’re not only to obey Him, we’re to keep His commands (Jn 14:21), to cherish them, hold on to them, protect them, safeguard them, store them, keep them close by, delight in them. (Ro 7:22) Spiritual life’s not just about action, following the rules, it’s about our hearts, what we’re treasuring and delighting in. (Mt 6:21)
God continues with: “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (De 6:7) The words of God’s commands are to be constantly percolating in our minds and hearts, flowing out of us to those around us. This is to be our passion, our addiction, all day long. (Ps 119:97)
This is how we take the sword, the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and let it dwell in us (Col 3:16), abide in us. (Jn_15:7) It’s the evidence and essence of a transformed heart. (He 8:10)
If God’s Word is abiding in us we can’t miss Messiah. (Jn 5:38) To succeed here is to succeed everywhere (Jos 1:8); it appears to be the key to our true, spiritual prosperity. (Ps 1:2-3)