Dale and Faye’s daughter Anna had cystic fibrosis. A blood clot that formed because of her severe coughing had lodged in Anna’s windpipe. I had finished breakfast when the call came. Could I meet Dale and Faye at the hospital?
I stepped into the room by 7:45 and sat next to Faye. That’s when they told me she was gone. We wept. A friend came. A doctor came and went. It became quiet. The moment had come, and I must pray. On my knees in that little room, I tried to make my voice work well enough to choke and stumble through the words of Psalm 27:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? … One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling.”
I can’t say, now, that I chose the best psalm, but that was the prayer of the moment, the first of more to be squeezed and poured from me in that next ninety minutes at the hospital.
Spoiler alert: challenge ahead
Why I stopped memorizing Scripture years ago, I don’t know. Laziness. Busyness. Pride. Always this nagging feeling that I should, but never the conviction to really do it.
Then conviction came from an article in my college alumni magazine. Chaplain Dale Cooper is a runner, and his workouts took place in the early morning while it was still dark. He would copy Bible verses onto 3×5 cards, and whenever he came running under a streetlight, he would pull out the card and memorize the words. What a great image!
Coop had been doing this for 20 years. I thought, How much of the Word could I know by heart 20 years from now? So I started carrying paper in my pockets. When I go for my morning prayer-walk, I take a piece of the Bible along. On long drives to visits or meetings, I can have a Bible on my lap, reviewing and learning. There are countless empty moments just waiting to be used, and brain cells and heart cavities just waiting to be filled by Scripture.
I took Coop’s challenge for these reasons:
1. Knowing Bible verses by heart makes the Word alive within me.
There are Bibles on my shelves, on my desk, in the back window-shelf of my car, and one in the trunk too. They accumulate. I carry them to hospital rooms, living rooms, and meetings. I read them, sometimes out of duty, or with the cold, practical necessity of having to generate a sermon or inspirational lesson from them. Using the Bible is my job.
Memorizing portions of it, however, makes God’s Word a living presence within me; I can no longer read it as something that is outside of me.
There are times when, while trying to memorize it, a phrase or just a word captures me, and all day long it becomes an object of wonderment. I am surprised at times how God ministers to me through this thought process.
2. It makes for more interesting conversation in my head.
When you drive, road signs say things like “Next rest area, 37 miles” or “Warning: Deer, next 7 miles.” A cartoon in The New Yorker, though, shows a man in his car on the highway, and a sign at the roadside says, “Your Own Tedious Thoughts, next 200 miles.” The same ol’ thoughts and worries play in there, and Satan tosses his dreary sludge in there, too.
Memorizing Bible verses gives me something productive and worthy to do with my brain. Dreary stretches of road pass quickly. And Satan has a more difficult time getting my attention.
3. Knowing the Bible by heart gives me greater professional confidence.
It’s not that I want to show off, but it sure is nice to know that, in the event (*gasp*) that I am somewhere and there is not Bible at hand, I still have the Word in my grasp.
Don’t get me wrong: there are times when I pray and I am surprised at what God provides for me to say. But when I was in the room with Dale and Faye, I had no words worthy to speak. Psalm 27, at that moment, was God’s Word for us, as clear and undiluted as it gets.
Coop is so far ahead of me, but who knows? Twenty years from now, I could have amazing amounts of Scripture living within me.
So could you.
Keith Mannes pastors Highland Christian Reformed Church in Marion, Michigan.
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