This week we are emphasizing scripture memorization as our spiritual discipline. What comes to your mind as you think about it? Have you tried to memorize scripture? Can you quote some verses from the Bible?
Before my brain damage, I memorized a few portions of the Bible. Some of them, though not all, I’m still able to repeat. All of them, I am sure, helped my understanding.
I am thankful teachers challenged me to study the Bible deeply. I am thankful for that heritage and that education. I am thankful part of the study included memorizing various texts.
Psalms in their poetic, prayerful flow. Portions of the gospels, with the narrative, the conflict, the stories. Selections from epistles, where instructions were given to an original audience and now apply to us in our present world.
The Bible provides needed information. Reading and studying those words can inform and inspire us. But there are times, if our brains allow, when it is a healthy discipline to dwell a long time on individual texts. To stay, to focus, and yes, to memorize. Memorizing a passage of scripture does not, of course, score points for God. He already loves us deeply. Do not memorize as a legalistic, required task. Do not memorize as an attempt to improve worth or value.
What it can and should do is redirect our thinking. It places truth deep within us. As we mentally hold those prayers, those stories, those words of wisdom, we allow the Word to hold us in a different way.
So today, or sometime this week, take a few moments and stay in a portion of scripture. Read and reread. Memorize. And appreciate the beauty of the words.
