I recently taught a workshop on memorizing the Bible for Lakeside Church's Pathway of a Disciple. Memorization is not everyone's strength. I get that. But for me, the discipline of memorizing passages of scripture has been the single best driver of my spiritual life. For years I have sought to put the epistles, psalms and other passages into my head and heart.
I found that memorizing Isaiah 40 has given me a greater grasp of God's sovereignty. Psalm 118 steers my heart passionately toward our Messiah. Philippians 2 teaches me humility--over and over and over.
At some point I decided to change direction. I had never memorized narrative scripture before, scriptures that tell a story. So I learned Luke 15, the story of the Lost Sons and what Tim Keller calls The Prodigal God. I found I loved knowing the story. Yes, I knew it before. I could tell you a rough outline of the story. But when I learned it by heart, it took on a new character. In fact, the characters took on character.
To memorize a story well, give personality to the characters. Or better yet, seek to discover what the personalities of the characters already are. The sons have personality. So does the Father. Lots of it. How you learn the story and how you tell the story make a difference to the story.
My latest goal has been to memorize Genesis 1-3. This section is the foundation for everything that comes later in the Bible. It' s a story. In this case, I started memorizing at chapter three. I've learned over the years that memorizing three chapters in chronological order means I will get the third chapter less settled. I usually put all my energy into chapter one. A little less into chapter two. By the time I get to chapter three I'm worn out. So chapter three doesn't always go so well. So this time I started at Genesis 3. Yesterday I got the final verses down. Now I'm reviewing like crazy.
Reviewing is the best part, because you can do that anywhere. Sitting at traffic signals is a good place for reviewing. So is lying in bed at night. In the shower--oops, too much information. Reviewing is where the characters and personalities come to life.
For example, how defensive do you think Eve sounded when she first responded to the serpent? How much laughter was in the serpent's voice when he told Eve she would not surely die? Did God's voice crack when he told his friend Adam that he had to leave the Garden of Eden?
When you find the personalities and the characters, you learn the story. And suddenly it gets personal.
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