“I have stored up Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”  (Ps. 119:11 ESV)

Other versions read “I have hidden your Word…”

Personally, I prefer the idea of “storing up” to “hiding”.  Hiding implies that I may not remember where I hid it, and won’t be able to find it when I need it!

Seriously, though, the concept of “storing up” brought something to mind this morning when I read Ps. 119 in my One Year Bible—

It reminded me of a stockpile of defensive weaponry. Anti-aircraft missiles, shields, you name it.

Then (being old enough to remember) I thought of the “Star Wars” Defense System initiated by Ronald Reagan in 1983. According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation:

“During the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan initiated the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), an anti-ballistic missile program that was designed to shoot down nuclear missiles in space. Otherwise known as “Star Wars,” SDI sought to create a space-based shield that would render nuclear missiles obsolete.”

In other words, instead of trying to outdo the enemy with more capability of evil and destruction, it would be more effective to let the enemy know they couldn’t touch us with any of their destructive weapons. No use even trying.

Whether the SDI would have actually worked is still a matter of debate. But what everyone agrees did work, was how just mentioning it scared the enemy into giving up on world domination. They figured, “What’s the use of more missiles if they can’t penetrate defenses?”

Before going farther, let me clarify— While we needed to contain Soviet expansion, the Russian people in general were never our enemy. Granted, there were some bad dudes in leadership, but even they were never the ultimate enemy.

The ultimate enemy was, is, and will be, until the end of time, the devil and his minions.

And while the SDI couldn’t save us from destruction, the Word of God can.  Each verse and passage we read, meditate on, memorize, and strategically store in our hearts builds our defensive “force shield”—protecting our thoughts and emotions from the Enemy’s temptation “missiles”.

He’ll still shoot them. And they may “hit” us externally. But with our Scriptural force-shield effectively in place, they’ll just bounce off and fizzle out, before “detonating” into sin.

Such temptation missiles include:

~Jealousy/Envy

~Unrighteous Anger

~Bitterness

~Carnal Desires

~Gossiping

~Contentiousness

~Any unwholesome speech

~Negativity

~Discouragement/hopelessness

~Anxiety

~Depression

~Apathy

~Laziness

…Anything else that produces bad thinking, action, or lack of doing what needs to be done.

Jesus likens to the devil to “the thief [who] comes to steal, kill, and destroy… (Jn. 10:10a).” Jesus, our Good Shepherd, on the other hand, has “…come that [we] may have life and have it abundantly. (Jn. 10:10b)”

Sadly, many people don’t realize this, because the devil, a skillful and experienced “liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44). has convinced them of the opposite. That’s why they (and sometimes even we) sometimes hold back from giving our whole hearts and lives to the Lord. Or we temporarily take parts back and do things our own way instead of His!

Why? Because we’re afraid we’ll lose out in some way. Why? Because we’ve been deceived into believing the Lord is going to take away whatever we really need if we give Him our lives. The truth is, He came to give life, not take it away!

Whatever temptation we give in to reflects where we lack trust in the Lord. The devil uses that as a means of finding our weak spot and destroying our lives and relationships with Him and others.

Scripture provides us with strategic defense against anything the enemy can throw at us, whether obvious or by stealth (the latter being even more dangerous). How?

First, it gives us a greater and true knowledge of the Lord—His character, power, and love for us. The more we know Him, the more we trust Him.

Second, it acts as a radar to help us discern an “incoming enemy attack”, disguised as either a message from the Lord or our own thinking.

Third, as mentioned above, the more Scriptural defense weaponry we have stored up and ready to use, the greater and wider-scoped our defense against sinning will be.

Which Scriptures for which temptation? I’ll let you search and discover, meditate on and store them in your heart, so you have your own “SDI” against the real enemy!