Proverbs 22: 17 Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise;
apply your heart to what I teach,
18 for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart
and have all of them ready on your lips.
Captain James E. Ray of the U.S. Air Force learned just how important those old, familiar words of Scripture were when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, at the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" and other camps. In his memoir, The Secret of Our Survival: A Former Vietnam POW’s Story of Faith, Captain Ray recounts a clandestine conversation he had with the prisoner in the next cell, who one day asked:
"Do you know any Bible verses?"
"Well, the Lord’s Prayer," I answered.
"Everyone knows that. How about the twenty-third Psalm?"
"Only a little."
I began whispering it. He’d repeat each line after me. A little later he whispered the entire Psalm back to me…Other prisoners joined in, sharing verses they knew. Through these contacts a fellowship grew among us. I didn’t feel so alone any more…[O]ur common denominators were the Bible and Jesus Christ, and we were able to share and write down a great deal of Scripture. For by now it had become vital to our daily existence. Often racked with dysentery, weakened by the diet of rice and thin cabbage and pumpkin soup, our physical bodies had shrunk within the prison walls. We spent 20 hours a day locked in our cells. And those Bible verses became rays of light, constant assurances of His Love and care.
Since the guards forbade communication between prisoners, they found creative ways of sharing these verses with each other:
[T]he urge to share these verses with others developed inventiveness. One night I lay with my ear pressed against the rough wooden wall of my cell to hear Thump...thumpety thump as somewhere on the wall, cells away, a fellow POW tapped out in Morse code: "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help" (Psalm 121:1). He tapped out his name-Russ Temperly-and passed on the seven other verses in that Psalm, which I scratched on the concrete floor with a piece of broken tile. "My help cometh from the Lord," the Psalm assured us, and with that assurance came His Presence, soothing us, telling us to fear not…From that we learned a most important lesson. Bible verses on paper aren’t one iota as useful as Scripture burned into your mind and heart where you can draw on them for guidance and comfort.
By the end of several months, Captain Ray and his fellow prisoners were able to "memorize collectively the Sermon on the Mount, Romans 12, First Corinthians 13, and many of the Psalms. Now we had our own ’living Bible,’ walking around the room."
Today we consider ways of Making the Bible a part of you. Memorization and Meditation. Now Memorization is something we hear about although it’s often relegated to the primary age Sunday school class. Even That can be a blessing
Meditation is a concept almost forgotten in the church today:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer when asked why do you meditate replied “Because I am a Christian.”
Not eastern Meditation. Not to empty but to fill your mind
So what are the benefits of Making God’s word a part of you?
1. God’s Blessing
Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
God’s promise is to bless and prosper those who meditate upon God’s word and allow it to become a part of them. This isn’t abstract blessing but concrete blessing and I believe it is the blessing of obedience that flows naturally as we allow the living word of God to saturate our being.
We’re blessed by doing the word of God, and the first step to doing is meditating upon His word and inviting the Holy Spirit to bring us under the control of God’s word. Which really flows into the next benefit of making God’s Word a part of you
2. Strength
Psalm 119: 11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Here is where we see the promise becoming concrete. If we hide God’s word in our hearts—and that means memorization, yes, but I think it really means making it a part of our heart—meditating upon it, allowing it to seep into us, it affects our actions, it strengthens the role of the Holy Spirit in us convicting us of sin and guiding us into what’s right.
Certainly the POWs in the Hanoi Hilton found strength to live because of their “Living Bible” that they had committed to memory…
There’s one final promise or benefit of making God’s Word a part of you…
3. Wisdom
Ps. 119:97 Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
for they are ever with me.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
102 I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
Meditating upon God’s Word gives us understanding and Wisdom. And understanding of the most important kind… understanding of the spiritual truths and spiritual forces which govern the world we live in.
I believe as we gain Spiritual insight and discernment from drinking in God’s word we will learn to better function in this world—as it is after all God’s world that he created. I believe you’ll understand people better, you’ll understand relationships better, you’ll appreciate the beauty of nature better.
You’ll gain understanding as you make God’s word a part of you.
CONCLUSION:
So how do you do it? Memorization I think each person has to figure out on their own. I think Scripture songs can help, Cards can help, there are compute programs that can help, but it really is just a matter of doing it.
But I’d like to give you some basic guidelines on Meditation.
Begin by reading a passage of Scripture, not speed reading, but contemplatively. Allow the Holy Spirit to make certain passages to jump out at you—mark those.
Then assume an attitude of prayer. Take a moment to let the worries of the world to recede and center yourself on God. Then begin to repeat a verse or two or a phrase from your reading and ask the Lord to help you understand it and apply it to your life. Repeat it, and savor it, Ask the Lord to help you fully appreciate what he’s saying to you.
This is a way in which we truly invite the Lord to make our prayer and Scripture reading a two way conversation.
I encourage you to try it this week.
