Challenged by God's Word - Part 1

Although I don’t blog that often, I do find various ideas hitting my brain on a fairly regular basis of what to blog about next. Lately, there have been 2 main topics I’ve been pondering that I’ve wanted to write about and post on my blog. So, if I’m feeling up to it (considering that I’m in the midst of fighting a nasty cold and have some Old Testament reading and studying to do), I’ll write on both topics this weekend. For now, though, here is one area that has recently really challenged me.

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you know that I’ve been working on memorizing Scripture. This has been a challenging, yet rewarding, discipline I’ve been learning. Each passage has presented new challenges to work through, much of them being on the more “technical” side. This post is specifically about those challenges and what I’ve learned from each one.

Over the summer, I began this journey into memorizing Scripture and began with the book of Hebrews (as I’ve mentioned in a previous post). The very first challenge that I was faced with was actually starting and sticking with Scripture memorization. How do I go about memorizing Scripture? What is the best “technique”? I found that for me (as would probably be the case for most), repetition is key. I wrote the verses out on index cards and tended to have them with me at most times. Whenever I had a chance to practice the verses, I did: while I was getting ready for work, while in my car, while exercising at the gym, etc. This put Scripture at the forefront of my mind throughout each day. It also helped to listen to sermons on the verses I was learning. I wanted Scripture memorization to be more than just getting the words into my head. I wanted to apply them to my life. I wanted Scripture to be so rooted into my heart that I would live it out daily.

Since Hebrews is 13 chapters long, I came across another challenge, which continues as I learn more Scripture. How do I keep from forgetting what I’ve learned? Review. Review. Review. I’ve had to adjust this process as I need to learn more Scripture. Instead of reviewing the entire book of Hebrews every single day, I now just go through a couple chapters a day. This keeps it fresh, and it’s also been exciting to see how it ties together with other passages of Scripture I’ve been learning.

At some point, I hit a wall while going through Hebrews. Chapter 9. I really got stuck there. It wouldn’t surprise me if part of the struggle was a spiritual attack. Chapter 9 gets into some real meat on the significance of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Not something the enemy would want us to really learn and grab hold of. My mind was getting tired from all the Scripture memorization. Yet, God had given me a determination to get through Hebrews. He had been teaching me so much, and I had a growing love for the book of Hebrews. I wanted to learn it. So, only because of God’s work in my life was I able to push through that 9th chapter and then all the way through the end of Chapter 13.

As I was in the midst of Hebrews, the question came up, “What do I memorize after Hebrews?” Although I have a desire to memorize Romans, I chose to memorize 1 John next because that was what we were going through in church at the time. 1 John is much shorter than Hebrews, so at first glance, it doesn’t seem to be that difficult. Hey…I memorized Hebrews…I should be able to memorize 1 John, right? Well, that brought me to the next challenge, and it was a pretty tough one to get through. I’m an engineer. I have a very linear way of thinking. Hebrews is written in a linear style. So, Hebrews fit my more natural way of thinking. 1 John is very different. If you really read 1 John and don’t get the point, you’ve got issues. He keeps coming back to the same message in each chapter, using a more circular-style of thinking, rather than linear. I still find myself thinking when reviewing 1 John, “Was that in chapter 3 or 4?” Since 2 and 3 John are just each a chapter long, I went ahead and memorized those, as well. 2 John is basically a summary of 1 John. 3 John is different, but is a great example of how someone applied the message taught in 1 and 2 John.

Although my brain got quite the workout as I went through all that, I loved seeing how the 3 books tied together. And there were times when I wrestled through some of the application points. I had to evaluate my heart and various situations, asking (and then honestly answering), “Am I being obedient in truly loving others as God commands?” That’s not always an easy question to answer completely honestly. God has some work to do on my heart still…quite a bit of work, in fact. But as I’m studying and praying through the Scripture He is teaching me, He is changing my heart, making it more tender and open to what He values.