In the news of the last several weeks have been a couple incidents with Carnival cruise ships and how they have left their passengers on board without power or amenities like cell-phones or activities to distract or "entertain" them. While I was recovering from my recent knee surgery on the couch, I saw a family being interviewed after the cruise ship was being disembarked. What struck me was the little girl in the family that spoke to the CNN correspondent and told him about how she was able to stay at peace during the troubling times by reciting the over two-hundred Bible verses that she had committed to memory.
This same little girl went on to tell the reporter her favorite verse, and that she was able to hold Bible study time for several other family groups on the ship during the stressful ordeal. I watched many other people being interviewed and most of them were not upset with the Cruise ship staff and were grateful to be on solid ground, but I just kept seeing multiple networks interviewing this family with the little girl. I felt as if God was using this little girl for a greater purpose and in that moment it occurred to me that (if I am being honest) I don't know 200 Bible verses by memory and I have two Masters degrees from seminary.
I know that one of the main purposes of this blog website is to educate and inform you about spiritual formation and I feel that this topic is one where spiritual formation can be hugely impacted. Let me give you an example that I have used in youth ministry before and I hope that it impacts you and moves you to want to build up your Scripture memory.
Imagine a scenario where you have a group of people (can be any group - in this scenario it was a group of high school students) and they are suddenly rushed into a room by a group of people dressed like soldiers. They are told to remain silent and to sit down and review their Bible until told otherwise. If they do not have a Bible, they are told to sit quietly and think about the Bible as much as they can. After a time period of about ten to fifteen minutes, the soldiers return back into the room and then instruct the students to give them their Bibles and they are each given a piece of paper and a pencil. They are told to write down as many Scripture verses - including the Chapter and verse reference by the quoted verse and the soldiers will be returning in ten minutes. They are also told that this is not a group exercise and talking is not tolerated. The verse must be exact and the reference must be correct. After ten minutes, the soldiers return and check what the students had written down on their sheet of paper. They erase anything that is not 100% correct and re-write only what is accurate and give each paper back to each student. Upon each paper being reviewed, THEN the students are told WHY all of this has been done. They are told that this will be their Bible that they can use for the next ten years of their captivity and they are each sent to a cell to reflect upon that Bible for the next hour.
What type of Bible would you have? How many verses do you think you would have down on the paper? Would that Bible serve you well over the course of a ten year time period? These are tough questions, and most of us are not likely to be taken prisoner any time soon. But what about being stuck on a cruise ship with no power or phone and not really being sure if you are going to make it home? What about being in an enclosed MRI chamber for an hour and having to sit very still and needing something to provide you some peace?
American Prisoners of War in Vietnam kept their faith, their sanity and their hope alive by sharing the Scriptures, prayers and sacred songs they had long ago stored up in their hearts. And thus even though they were deprived of the printed word, the Word was yet able to sustain them. Memorization takes effort and time, but the rewards are worth it all.
There may be many areas that you may find yourself alone for short or long periods of time and having Scripture memorized to rest into and reflect upon will be a source of great peace and spiritual formation in your life.
You may be saying, but I am getting older and I find it much harder to memorize things. I know I have that same issue. If you are younger, I implore you to read God's Word daily and make it a practice to memorize a verse or multiple verses each day. How should you do this? That is a deeply personal thing and every person will have vastly different ways they can relate to memorizing things. I recently found an App for my Ipad called Scripture Typer and it is a program that allows you to first type the verse (it shows the verse in light grey and you type the first letter of each word - including the verse references). Then it allows you to move onto Memorizing the verse (when you are ready) by typing the first letter of the verse again (but only every other word appears). Finally, the program allows me to "Master" the verse - where none of the verse appears and I still have to type the first letter of each word, including the reference. There are a lot more options to the app like - recording your voice reading the verse, drawing an illustration of the verse, flashcards, etc. and I think that is helpful since people learn in lots of different ways. I have only been using the app for about a week and have already memorized six verses - so it gets my two thumbs up.
Straight memorization is one thing, but being in God's Word daily will help to bolster and familiarize you with the verses that you are attempting to memorize. In the app I mentioned, I am attempting a collection called "top 100" and I was surprised how many of that collection that I actually did already know, but just needed to "brush up" on the references and I also like the face that I could adjust the translation of the Bible to fit the way I had learned the verses over my lifetime (instead of trying to teach an old dog a new verse ;)
God taught Israel to memorize His message, "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." (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
Spiritual growth depends on knowing God's Word. "2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, (1 Peter 2:2). Food must be taken into the system and digested before it benefits the body, so must the Scriptures to strengthen the soul.
The Word of God stored in the mind provides powerful assistance in soul-winning. From infancy, Timothy had, "15 known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 3:15). When memorized, the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation is instantly available for every need (Romans 1:16). Whether you meet someone at the gym, in the coffee shop, at your place of work, or on a blog about spiritual formation, you can teach them.
My prayer is that He has used these words to inspire you to seek out more knowledge about Him and His Word by reading the Bible daily and by looking for ways to commit these powerful verses into your heart and into your memory to provide you peace during times when you are away from your printed Bible.
I welcome your thoughts to this entry and look forward to hearing from anyone about their own spiritual journey.
Recharging my Spirit daily,
Pastor Bill Blanck
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