Back in the latter end of the 1970’s, the pastor of the
Baptist church that my wife and I were attending and where I was also serving
as the Youth Minister, assembled a group of men in the church for a special
Bible Study group. I felt very honored
when he also asked me to participate in the study sessions. Most of the men were a minimum of ten plus years
my senior. I was still pretty new in my
Christian walk and didn’t know much about the Bible… but I definitely was hungry to find out!
We started out by reading, studying and discussing a book
put out by the Navigators.* I don’t
remember what the title was or even what it covered! But what I do remember though, is how great
it felt to be surrounded by a group of supportive individuals who were all there
in order to grow in their faith as men, husbands, dads, employees or employers and
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was also the first time that I began to internalize the
importance of memorizing scripture. And since I already had the visible
reference of one who possessed a wealth of the Word hidden in her heart through
the example of my young wife, it was easy for me to grasp the reality of this
truth very quickly! In this regard, the
Psalmist in Psalm 2:1-5 declares:
“My
son, (& daughter) if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear
unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and
liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver,
and searchest for her as for hid
treasures; Then shalt thou understand
the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” (KJV)
I can’t tell you how many times throughout the early years
of our marriage that I would turn to my wife, when in the midst of ministering
to others, expecting her to have the right Word for the discussion at hand… and you know? Most of the time she did have it and shared it
gracefully, expectantly and with a sweet smile!
My problem was that for some reason, it was very difficult for me to
memorize the specific location of individual scriptures and then be able to
recall them when needed!
On the positive side, I seemed to be able to remember the
book in the Bible where the verse was found and the approximate location within
that book, so after reading a few books by and/or about the great evangelist
Smith Wigglesworth (1859 – 1957), I began to follow his example and tended to
keep a Bible nearby or in the car whenever I went out so that I could easily
flip through the pages and find the verse I wanted!
For years, the first thing I did whenever I got a new Bible
was to put a small tab on the page with the table of contents so I could find a
particular book with rapid success. My
little cheat tab made it look like I knew my Bible so well that I could get to
any book with a simple flip of a few pages!
(Shhh... don’t tell anybody I told you
this!)
Through the years of ministry and life in general, I have
learned that is important to not only share scripture from the heart, but to
also let the receiver know where he or she can find the verse in their own
Bibles. Piper always had the knack to
stop in the middle of ministering to someone at the church in order to assist
them in finding the verse in their own Bible, so that they could follow along with
what she was sharing. This technique
seemed to help the individual take more ownership of the scripture and to help
them put it into work in their own lives in a more meaningful way.
Over the past twenty years or so, it has become much easier
for me to recall particular verses and the address were they abide in the
Bible! Of course the addition of Bible
School definitely aided my ability to know where the verses I may need at any
given time are. One of the most interesting
results of my journey of memorizing or maybe better said, hiding the Word in my heart, has been during some of the more
difficult moments of this battle for my wife’s health that we have been
involved with full time since 2009. I’ve
discovered to my pleasure, that in the neediest times, when things seem to be
sky-rocketing downward… the Word that I have put inside me has seemed to just
pop up and help me through whatever is happening at the moment!
In times of greatest need, at the side of my wife in the different
Emergency Rooms, in the midst of a scary negative physical reaction that is
happening before my eyes, when the doctors or nurses have given me negative
reports, or when I am just looking into the eyes of the one I love more than
anything else in this world and seeing the trauma residing there, it has been His Word that has come up from
inside me and given me the comfort, the peace, the confidence and the strength
to carry on… and then share that Word with her as well!
So, my suggestion?
Take the time today… and every day to study and then hide His Word in
your hearts… so that when your times of need arise, you’ll discover His Word
coming up from the hidden places of your heart to minister to you when you need
it the most! Have a great week, and as
you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I
expecting to hide God’s Word in my heart today?”
*https://www.navigators.org/mission/navigator-church-ministries/
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