Benefits of Memorization and Recitation of Scripture


Have you ever been in a stressful situation and the only thing that got you through was prayer and scripture? I heard of a English Professor who assigned students in a master of fine arts program to memorize 30 lines of traditional poetry a week. The professor said He was doing them a favor by "giving them an internal library to draw on when taken political prisoner." A poet by the name of Richard Wilbur once said, "If one is delayed in a bus terminal, or sitting in a foxhole, it's wonderful to have an inner anthology to say over, yet again, in one's mind." What if we applied this same theology to scripture? As much as I love poetry, it doesn't have the power that scripture has. Scripture is God whispering in our ear, it is the heart of God revealed, it is a conversation with God. It's wonderful to have an inner library hidden in our heart for such times as waiting in a waiting room, a doctors office, or walking the dog.

It's one thing to read scripture, but it's another to as Psalm 119:11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart." His Word is a "lamp unto our feet, and light unto our path." We find that scripture has the same feelings, thoughts, and values we do. When we recite and memorize it and hide it in our heart, we allow the wisdom and truth of the scripture to become apart of us, and share it with others. The process of memorization teaches us the sound of God's voice, the music of His love, and the rhythm of His heart. It allows us to discover the scripture anew with each reading, when we must reach inside ourselves to find the words--it is as if we are discovering them for the first time, it is alive within us, rather than coming off the page. We should carry scripture to sleep with us, and wake in the morning with it in our unconscious. Only in a recitation of a memorized verse can the emotion of the poem be fully transferred from the scripture to the reader to listener.

What a testimony before the world. His Word brings peace. I've never forget on a mission trip to Dallas, Texas 2 years ago we had an outbreak of sickness, kids were passing out being rushed to the hospital, news stations were everywhere, it was a nightmare. I was a leader on the trip, and the only thing I could do to bring peace is to get all the kids on the bus and read scripture to them.

In the deepest of stresses, or the lightest of moments, that are full of happiness, His Word can be recited. The Psalms are perfect. I think we tend to think of memorization a kid thing, something they do in AWANA. As the professor pointed out in assigning 30 lines of poetry a week, in whatever we memorize we are being given an internal library to open up whenever we want. What a wonderful opportunity.

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