BY TRAVIS MORONEY
To be honest my memory’s not great! I’m definitely not the best person to be exhorting anybody on the topic of memorization, most of all Bible memorization! I’d like to blame older age or busyness, but I think remembering stuff easily just isn’t my forte. If you don’t have lots of time or head space, if you’re not young (however you define that) or if you don’t possess a professional memory ability or capacity, take heart, read on, you’re amongst friends.
My journey into Bible memory started with Growth Group. Whenever we studied a book of the Bible, as the leader I wanted one key verse from each book to be itched forever on everyone’s heart. I came up with some strategies and made a memory verse prize box to reward participants. I thought up some rewards that would be fun and build community. It began with Song of Songs 8:6-7…
Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
…and continued with Philemon 4-7, Jude 24-25 and Hosea 11:8, to name a few. After an initial burst of enthusiasm, interest and effort plateaued. It got me thinking, why should we memorise scripture? What reasons could I provide my group, myself in fact that would stimulate busy people prioritizing time to internalise Bible verses? I’ve been a maturing Christian for years without deliberately making an effort to memorise Scripture so why start now? Better, what reasons does the Bible provide to stir up such efforts?
After reading a helpful book and listening to an interesting video (thanks referring friend), while continuing to persevere in remembering passages I was teaching on, it got me pondering. Here are my ponderings…
God is a remembering God. He remembered his promise to Noah with a rainbow, his promise to bless Abraham and his descendants, his promise to send his Son to save humanity and will remember those he’s saved when he returns, to name a few. It’s one aspect of who he has revealed himself to be and we are made to reflect his image.
That means God has made us to remember him, both who he is and what he has done as he has revealed himself in his Word. True, this side of the garden our memory isn’t great! Not only is it diminished, but quite often rebellious. To remember him can’t be reduced to a mind exercise, but ought to involve every aspect of ourselves; head, heart and hands. Despite our flaws, and because he remembered us in the gift of his Son, he invites all people, young and old, to remember him. At times God tells his people straight up…
Deuteronomy 6:6-8
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.7 Impress them
on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up.8 Tie them as symbols on your hands
and bind them on your foreheads.9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and
on your gates.
Joshua 1:8
8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that
you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and
successful.
Psalm 1:1-2
Blessed is the one…
whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
Other times God encourages us by examples…
Psalm 119:11
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Job 23:12
I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
Matthew 4:5-7
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of
the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is
written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
It struck me that even Jesus clearly put to memory God’s word (he didn’t carry around scrolls!), evidenced in his many verbatim scripture citations throughout his ministry and even on the cross. More could be said of the example of Peter in his sermons in Acts or Apollos or Paul or other Christians over the centuries.
Now persuaded with good, biblical reasons and inspired by the example of others I began to ponder, what are the benefits to memorising Scripture? So far surprisingly, I’ve discovered it has aided my fight against lingering sin, enriched my pastoral conversations with others, increased my love for each word in God’s Word, been the subject of much discussion among my family, reminded me of the kind of God I worship and deepened my exposition and application of God’s Word in my teaching. What blessings it brings whether you’re at the start or end of your life or somewhere in between!
That leads us to ponder strategies and there’s a whole host of them out there. Here are two I used that worked for me. First things first, I used the voice recorder on my phone to record myself reading the passage and simply replayed it whenever I had a minute or two. It’s surprising how many spare minute or twos we have in a day! Secondly, I wrote out the first letter of each word with punctuation and practised filling in the blanks. Here is an example I used from 2 Corinthians 3; this is verse 1…
A w b t c o a? O d w n, l s, l o r t y o f y?
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
It doesn’t matter how busy you are, whether your memory isn’t great like mine or what your age is, you have the time and space, if you want, to treasure up God’s Word in your heart. With the help of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) have a go and share your journey with another!
