The Psalms and Spiritual Disciplines: Internalizing the Word - Scripture memory

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

      

 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This week, we will talk about Memorizing the Word for the purpose of internalizing the Word. We know that the Word will not return void. We know that the Word is a lamp to our feet. We know that the Word contains everything we need for life and godliness - why then would we not want to internalize It? 

   In many ways, I think this is one of the easiest disciplines to practice. There are so many phone apps and other resources to help you memorize. But at the same time, I think it can be very difficult because in an age of our phones just telling us everything when we want and having the ability to look things up, we rarely internalize anything. 

  There are so many valuable resources at your fingertips for memorizing for you and for your children. I would encourage you to look up some ideas that would work for you and your family. The hard part will be actually putting this discipline into practice. Like with all our other disciplines, this will take time and faithfulness. It's like I tell my music students, "a few minutes a day is better than skipping several and practicing for a longer period of time just one or two days." We need to build up consistency and the faithfulness of the Word in our brains, so that way it can penetrate and reach our hearts. 

Maybe you aren't convinced we need to memorize Scripture? Other than memorizing being very good for your brain, think of those times in the night when your children wake up - how wonderful would it be for Scripture to have saturated them so much that the Holy Spirit can bring the beautiful and powerful words of Scripture to mind. What about during trials or difficulties - God's Word often will come to mind because we have internalized it. This is so important for children. I think of all the verses I can still say, and almost all of them were the ones memorized when I was a child. 

I'm not going to give you a lot of resources, because I want you to do the work yourselves and find a good fit for your family, but I will give you some pointers and helpful passages to start out with. 

• PREPARE - as with all our disciplines, you must have a PLAN! Set a reasonable goal and stick to it. This discipline is rarely a spontaneous one
• Be PURPOSEFUL - set aside specific time to work on this discipline. In our family, we work on Scripture memory during lunch every day. This works for us, because we stay home for lunch and the children are sitting in one spot. 
• BUILD - as you set reasonable goals, add to that and stretch your children. Start with one verse and then the next day add another and then another. 
• REVIEW - this is so very important. Children can memorize quickly, but they can also forget quickly. You must review (daily is best) faithfully, carefully, and consistently

• Know your children - some children memorize quickly, others do not. Do not let age or ability excuse you from this discipline however. 
• Children's ages - If your children are close in age, you might have them work on the same passage together. If they are spread apart, you might pick a shorter passage for a younger child. 

                      In our home, I have chosen to stick with one passage for all my children. My 4 and 6 year old memorize at about the same rate. My 2 year old can't pronounce all the words yet, but he soaks up way more than one might think. He can fill in most blanks I leave at the ends of phrases. Don't let age be a deterrent. With my 16 month old, I do shorter verses, but she still listens to the longer passages of the older children. 

There are so many good passages - where do I even begin? 

My word of caution is to be careful to not just memorize pieces of verses with your children such as "be kind to one another." You want to make sure that you are including enough context as you memorize so that we are not just memorizing what seems like moral behavior. This is so easy to do when you have young children. I, as a mom might think, "hmmm....I want my children to do xyz, so I will have them memorize that the Bible says to be kind to each other." The Bible does say that, however, the Bible says to be kind to one another, forgiving one another, AS CHRIST HAS FORGIVEN YOU. So, even in this discipline, start with the Gospel! Do not leave out the Gospel - even if you just read that part to them each time! 

Instead, I would suggest some of these more complete passages: 

The Psalms is a great place to start! 

• Psalm 117 (short, but focuses on praising the Lord) Even in this discipline, we want to teach our children not what to do, but who Christ is and what He has done! 
•    Psalm 23 (my children all memorized this because we recited it to them at bedtime each night          from the time they were infants)
•    Psalm 103 (my personal favorite)
•    Psalm 150 ... the list for the Psalms could go on and on. 
•    Psalm 1
•    Psalm 121
•   Genesis 1:1 (and following)
•   John 1:1-14
•   Luke 2 (for Christmas)
•   The Resurrection account (from one of the Gospels. My children have learned Matthew's account)
•   Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8
•   2 Corinthians 5:21 - if you want the Gospel in a nutshell for your kids. This is my favorite! 
•   Galatians 5:22-23 (the Fruit of the Spirit)
•   The Ten Commandments

These are the basic starting passages for my children. I will include a comprehensive list with a good order for primary (grade 1-3) and junior (grade 4-6) in a few days. 

    This discipline is not just for your children! You participate! I use a chalkboard at lunch (or read straight from the Bible) and memorize right along with them. I would also suggest choosing a version and sticking with it. There are several good versions: KJV for the rhythm and tradition, NASB, NKJV, or ESV. We have chosen to memorize from the ESV because that is what our church uses and that is what we generally use in our home. 

    So, your assignment is to get out a piece of paper and start writing down ideas of how you will implement this discipline starting this week. Choose a passage, have a plan, pick a time each day and do it! 

A Word of Encouragement

For those of you in a wearisome season of life. This will help you! The Gospel is what you need saturating your heart and life. Do not be discouraged if you have young children. Read and read and repeat and repeat. Sing the verses to them. Show them that the Word is their very life!