11 - Thy word have I
hid in mine heart,
that I might not
sin against thee.
Do you want to have a stimulating discussion with a group of people of any age? Do you want to throw out a Scripture in the Bible that is sure to be met with resistance of some sort, regardless of the spirit in the room or the attitude of the hearers?
Then throw out this one!
"Thy word have I hid in mine heart..." And teach a little while on why it is important to "hide His word in our heart" through memorization and just run and hide as the excuses start hitting faster than speeding bullets! An amazing array of excuses!
"I'm too old. This old brain won't hold anything else."
"I'm too busy. I barely have time to read the Bible." (Ahem. That could be part of the problem. We are supposed to be eating the Word.)
"I'm ADD. I try to start memorizing something and I get distracted and there it goes." (These same people can usually quote line upon line upon line of an amazing array of lyrics...)
"I'm too tired. By the time I think about all I have to think about in a day and am responsible to all my duties and yada, yada, yada, I just can't think anymore."
"That's why I never did work out as a Bible Quizzer."
Translations to those excuses above are: "I don't understand the importance of this, I'm not concerned with whether or not I memorize the Word as long as I have some sort of a Bible on my iPhone, I am too lazy, I don't want to, don't bother me."
Now before you turn me off totally, let me say that just memorizing a lot of scripture is not what I personally believe the Psalmist was referring to. I think he was referring to imprinting it indelibly on your heart, your soul, your life. But it has been my own personal experience that when I have been captured by a passage and began to really eat it and metabolize it and it became a part of me, my brain also retained it and it becomes something I not only live and breathe, but also quote.
I think we may have it a little backwards. Instead of memorizing and hoping we metabolize it, I think we memorize it as we metabolize it. As we eat it, we become it. Not just in our heart, but also in our brain.
It's just a thought.
"[David] did not wear a text on his heart as a charm, but he hid it there as a rule."
~ Charles Spurgeon
© 2012 by Melani Brady Shock
For adults, I agree wholeheartedly. Definitely possible to memorize without metabolizing. Pointless. In fact, seems it could be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteFor children, who are sponges and memorize almost everything they hear more than once without any effort, and who are too young to metabolize intake in the way you speak of, I think memorizing a lot of scripture is a very good thing. Without purposely choosing to, they do metabolize it, just like they metabolize Hollywood’s output or whatever we feed them.
Speaking of… don’t forget to check out the Memorize 90 program/concept - - I know, I know… AFTER The Knowledge Project is set in motion! :)