Keeping Aligned with the Word

When all is said and done, the basics rule.
The way to walk from here to there is clear:
release my arrogance that claims the right
to choose my path and act out of my fear

and wait, instead, for God to take his pen
and twist the plot, for good, because I’m his.
Meanwhile my work assignment is mapped out:
guard justice, always do what’s right, and this—

to keep my heart aligned with his true Word,
maintain love in my world, love him, draw near.

When I was a child growing up in Congo, my parents had a little box full of Bible verses on cards. One breakfast ritual was pulling them out after we had finished eating to review the ones already memorized and to begin learning a new one. I was the oldest child, so I usually took the lead. I had no idea that so many of those verses were going to shape my life, especially these:

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (Jas. 4:8 ESV)

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Ps. 119:11 NIV)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5 NIV)

Back then they were all in KJV, getting updated in my mind over time as I dug into other translations. But the meaning was rooted in my heart. I longed to be closer to God then ever before, to draw near to him, and I knew that that would require knowing him through his Word.

Then, during my second year of marriage, I lost my first pregnancy in the seventh month, a devastating blow. I took time off from work, and turned to John 17 for comfort. Jesus had prayed for me as well as his disciples, and he longed to keep on making himself known to me and to fill me with his love. I was being embraced even in a time of grieving by memorizing this chapter, contemplating its richness:

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (Jn. 17:25,26 NIV)

Once I became immersed in the project of Bible translation I was forced to study the meaning of texts in a deeper way than ever before. Working through 1^st and 2^nd Peter woke me up to treasures there that I knew I needed to “hide in my heart.” I memorized them. Doing that gave me focus on the spiritual growth that Peter was promoting, and aligned my heart increasingly with what matters to my Lord.

It was something I had never thought I would do: memorize whole books. And I found out that I did not have the great long-term memory I had hoped for. Unless I kept on repeating the lengthy sections out loud, I could not remember the whole chain of thought.  Nevertheless the process forced me to contemplate each verse and its connection to the context while I was working on it. I was deeply nourished.

During the last two years a partner in our mission led anyone who wished to join in memorizing James, then the Sermon on the Mount. Wow! Some of you may have noticed that during that time, my blogs usually focused on what I was learning and applying from those passages.

Adele Calhoun points out that the motivation that incites one’s practice of memorization is the desire “to carry the life-shaping words of God in me at all times and in all places.” [1]Yes, that is it! The goal is not to show off or to earn rewards, although that often helps kids work at it. As a disciple of Jesus, yearning to know his heart and his instructions, it is about plunging into a passage in a way that will root one’s heart more firmly in the Word. Repetition of the teaching forces you to think about it.

I have experienced the Lord’s voice convicting me of false assumptions and behaviors. And he has also encouraged me to focus on spiritual growth in new ways, as in these verses:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2 Pet. 1:3 NIV)

Knowing him—yes, that is my goal. But I had not meditated on the fact that he has given us everything we need to live a life deeply attached to him, even to the point of participating in the divine nature !

This spiritual practice is not one that fits every phase of life. Sometimes attention is drawn in other directions through life pressures and requirements. But I can testify that it has been a discipline that has truly helped me “to keep my heart aligned with his true Word, to maintain love in my world, love him, draw near,” as expressed in the introductory poem. What I’ve learned is to notice the pull of a certain passage, whether it is through my own study or a group memorization effort, and to then hide it in my heart. I am not the only one! My mother-in-law memorized all of 1^st John in her 90s, joining a project in her church. She had some failing memory issues, but was devoted to the Word, and made it through! That was one of the reasons I dove back into memorization, myself.

It is one way to journey with the psalmist:

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. (Ps. 119:90 NIV)

If you would like to profit from John Piper’s blog on the key importance of this process, visit https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/memorizing-scripture-why-and-how . He quotes both Dallas Willard and Chuck Swindoll, underlining that memorization is “absolutely fundamental” to growth, and extremely rewarding. I agree!

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[1] Calhoun, Adele Ahlberg. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Books, 2005), 176.