I hide God’s Word in my heart for many reasons, because I have many needs. I need to remind myself of God’s promises, to avoid temptation and sin, to prepare myself for spiritual warfare against a determined foe, to encourage myself about God’s sovereignty, about His character, about eternity, and often just to hang out with Him.
How do I choose which verses to memorize? I’m not sure my answer will help you much. Just as we all have different body types, with different dietary needs, we all have different needs in our spiritual diet. I am not in the advice business, but here is some free advice:
Be led by the Holy Spirit!
He is God. He lives in you.
He knows what you need.
Let Him guide you as you choose this part of your spiritual diet.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us. He had and has much to tell the disciples but they weren’t able to bear it. Neither are we.
What can’t we bear to hear? In a world full of information just waiting for search engines to find, it couldn’t just be facts. We love facts.
It couldn’t be gossip, privileged and sensitive information about the quirks, flaws and failures of others. We are all to eager to hear that!
One example of this fascination:
Recently, after a Christian leader’s death, it was revealed that his private life was in conflict with his reputation.
As more and more people came forward, the scandal grew.
One of the remarkable things about this tragedy was that the deceased leader became more newsworthy after his death than he ever was in life.
Why are we so fascinated by other people’s failure?
It’s similar to the fascination that causes us to slow down on the freeway when we see an accident. We can’t resist taking a good long look before we continue on. Maybe we hope to draw lessons from their failure that will remind us to be more vigilant.
Or maybe it’s because we feel convicted about our own private life, and want reassurance we aren’t so bad compared to others.
Whatever the reason, clearly we are fascinated by other people’s flaws and less interested in hearing about our own.
Isn’t this what Jesus is saying we cannot bear to hear? He says He is sending the Holy Spirit to live in us to guide us into all truth.
This may explain why I am particularly drawn to learn verses that remind me to watch how I conduct myself. They are often verses about boundaries the Lord has set for us.
I call these my “insecticide verses,” because they are a much-need inoculation against the values of this world.
I am also drawn to learn verses that remind me that God takes pleasure when I succeed on His terms.
I am also drawn to learn verses that encourage and comfort me in trouble.
I am drawn to learn verses that speak of God’s healing power, because my wife needs a healing touch from the Lord right now.
I am likely to learn verses that speak of God’s promises.
I am drawn to learn verses that challenge me to live more fully for Christ.
I am drawn to learn verses that speak to me, somehow, even though I do not completely understand them.
I also learn verses the Bible declares are mysteries, hoping that as I review them, one day God will open my eyes and give me additional understanding about their significance for my life.
What verses are you led to memorize? Please let me know your thoughts. I’m very interested in hearing from you!
Until next time, Happy Memorizing!
“When it is time to sow, sow and when it is time to harvest, you will harvest. Obey this rule.”