If you've been around this blog for any amount of time, you've probably noticed that I value Scripture memorization pretty highly. After Dad and I read Andrew Davis' article, "An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture," (i.e. memorizing whole books of the Bible) a little over two years ago, we first got bit by the book memory bug. We decided to memorize our first book of the Bible together. I got to pick it, and so I chose a book that's a bit of an unsung hero - Colossians. And so we followed Dr. Davis' approach to the letter, memorizing all ninety-five verses of Colossians within a few months. After that, we continued reciting the book every day for one hundred days.
When we were done, we couldn't believe that it actually wasn't as hard as we'd thought it would be. We were no geniuses with special memory skills. We just went slowly and carefully, memorized one verse a day, took breaks on Sundays and recited our old verses every day. By September of 2011, we had retired it to a "once-a-week slot" and now will be reciting it every Monday for the rest of our lives.
Dad got to pick the next book. He went with a really unsung hero - the minor prophet, Habakkuk. Habakkuk only has 56 verses, but they're long and they're heavy. We tackled this one, though, and, at Dr. Davis' encouragement, began memorizing two verses a day. This was okay at first, but quickly bogged us down and we switched back to one verse a day. Habakkuk is an amazing book, highlighting these conversations between Habakkuk the prophet and God about judgement and sovereignty. What is the most encouraging part is chapter three.
It's funny - when you memorize so many verses and spend so much time thinking about them, you start inventing different ways to remember them. Dad and I specifically got into rapping them. No, not with paper and ribbons. But with words to a beat. It was the end of Habakkuk 3 that we really got into this, beginning at verse eight and then running all the way to verse nineteen. So, yes, my middle-aged dad and me, his teenage daughter, can rap the end of Habakkuk (of course, we can just say it normally too, but what's the fun in that?)
So after Habakkuk, it was my turn to pick again. I was really feeling up for the challenge. We had memorized a book with four chapters, and a book with three chapters. They hadn't taken us too long and they were unsung heroes. Now I was changing everything. It started when I looked at Dad one day and say, "What do you think about memorizing Romans?" I won't lie - he laughed. He thought I was being ridiculous. Memorize Romans? It sounded impossible, insurmountable, sixteen chapters of theological eloquence that we would be pretty difficult to hide in our hearts. It would be a whole new ballgame.
But we began thinking about. We started reading it. We thought about how cool it would be to have Romans under our belt, how our faith would be strengthened. It was Martin Luther who in his Preface to Romans said,
And no, as I write this, we're not done. But this week, we did just finish chapter eleven! Eleven chapters down, five to go! I don't write this to make you feel inadequate or to make me look good. Far be it! And I'm not saying memorizing whole books of the Bible is going to be a piece of cake. It takes hard work, determination, accountability and a whole lot of prayer. It takes sweat and songs and brain freezes and even more prayer. It takes time.
But you can do it. I can do it. My dad can do it. Donna who is memorizing Romans and is in chapter nine now can do it! Amanda who memorized the book of Philippians with her Bible Study can do it. Any Christian with any desire can do it. We may not be commanded to memorize books of the Bible, but we are instructed to hide God's Word in our hearts. It may be harder for you than for me. But that doesn't mean you can't memorize Scripture.
Now my question to you is: will you?
When we were done, we couldn't believe that it actually wasn't as hard as we'd thought it would be. We were no geniuses with special memory skills. We just went slowly and carefully, memorized one verse a day, took breaks on Sundays and recited our old verses every day. By September of 2011, we had retired it to a "once-a-week slot" and now will be reciting it every Monday for the rest of our lives.
Dad got to pick the next book. He went with a really unsung hero - the minor prophet, Habakkuk. Habakkuk only has 56 verses, but they're long and they're heavy. We tackled this one, though, and, at Dr. Davis' encouragement, began memorizing two verses a day. This was okay at first, but quickly bogged us down and we switched back to one verse a day. Habakkuk is an amazing book, highlighting these conversations between Habakkuk the prophet and God about judgement and sovereignty. What is the most encouraging part is chapter three.
It's funny - when you memorize so many verses and spend so much time thinking about them, you start inventing different ways to remember them. Dad and I specifically got into rapping them. No, not with paper and ribbons. But with words to a beat. It was the end of Habakkuk 3 that we really got into this, beginning at verse eight and then running all the way to verse nineteen. So, yes, my middle-aged dad and me, his teenage daughter, can rap the end of Habakkuk (of course, we can just say it normally too, but what's the fun in that?)
So after Habakkuk, it was my turn to pick again. I was really feeling up for the challenge. We had memorized a book with four chapters, and a book with three chapters. They hadn't taken us too long and they were unsung heroes. Now I was changing everything. It started when I looked at Dad one day and say, "What do you think about memorizing Romans?" I won't lie - he laughed. He thought I was being ridiculous. Memorize Romans? It sounded impossible, insurmountable, sixteen chapters of theological eloquence that we would be pretty difficult to hide in our hearts. It would be a whole new ballgame.
But we began thinking about. We started reading it. We thought about how cool it would be to have Romans under our belt, how our faith would be strengthened. It was Martin Luther who in his Preface to Romans said,
"We find in this letter, then, the richest possible teaching about what a Christian should know: the meaning of law, Gospel, sin, punishment, grace, faith, justice, Christ, God, good works, love, hope and the cross."So we started to memorize it.
And no, as I write this, we're not done. But this week, we did just finish chapter eleven! Eleven chapters down, five to go! I don't write this to make you feel inadequate or to make me look good. Far be it! And I'm not saying memorizing whole books of the Bible is going to be a piece of cake. It takes hard work, determination, accountability and a whole lot of prayer. It takes sweat and songs and brain freezes and even more prayer. It takes time.
But you can do it. I can do it. My dad can do it. Donna who is memorizing Romans and is in chapter nine now can do it! Amanda who memorized the book of Philippians with her Bible Study can do it. Any Christian with any desire can do it. We may not be commanded to memorize books of the Bible, but we are instructed to hide God's Word in our hearts. It may be harder for you than for me. But that doesn't mean you can't memorize Scripture.
Now my question to you is: will you?