Memorizing again.

I’ve been working on memorizing lately so since that is on my mind that is what I’ll write about! I am wondering if as we age our minds quit absorbing things as well or if mine is just stubborn (I know I am stubborn) and so rusty from lack of exercise that it refuses to retain what I wish it to retain. I remember when I was about 11 or 12 years old and Mom asked me to memorize the book of James. I had no problem doing what I did, I never ended up memorizing the whole book of course but it didn’t take very long to get the whole first chapter down. I think when I was about 7 or 8 years old I was able to memorize the entire chapter of Psalm 1 in one setting; now I would be happy to remember the first verse! By far the very best chapter I have ever memorized has been Psalm 91. I am sure I have mentioned it at least once but I am going to again because I feel it is so essential! I remember reading somewhere about the 91st brigade in one of the world wars. Apparently, they recited the 91st Psalm every day and, while they were engaged in some of the worst and most dangerous and destructive battles of the war they had no combat related casualties! I’ll say that is a motivator to me to keep reciting it! While we are not in a war like they were we are in a spiritual battle and I think it would do us all good to fight that battle like we mean it. I see too many casualties in this war and I don’t want to be numbered among them. I’ve gotten wounds, which I am sure are because I was just sitting there asking for them and not fighting as I should. Psalm 91 is now part of putting my armor on daily.

I remember when I was involved in 4-H I had to make public speeches from time to time. I was the president of the club so I had to regularly conduct the meetings and give presentations. Some were of such a nature that it was necessary to memorize at least a good portion of what I wanted to present, especially lists of things. Often I would compete in livestock judging competitions (which I loved to do) and would have to memorize a lot of information in a matter of no time at all, usually while standing in line with a bunch of other kids that were terribly nervous or scared half to death waiting for their turn in front of the judge. Part of how you are graded on livestock judging is how you present your reasons to the judge so having your facts in order and presenting them nicely was very important. I am naturally a terribly shy person, so bad at times that hiding somewhere is a much preferred option to walking up to that judge! I enjoyed the judging part enough to keep motivated though. What was an even better motivator was the other guys that I knew that were trying just as hard as I was. While we were standing in line I usually tried to hide my nervousness by just standing there and reading my notes but the really nervous types would always pick the guys that appeared self confident and beg them to hear their reasons several times so they could get practiced up a bit. I got picked a lot for that job even though I guarantee I was far more nervous than any of the other guys were, I just wasn’t showing it! It was a good method though, and as I participated in more judging competitions I would take turns with the other guys giving our reasons to each other while the other guy held the note cards that I had usually scribbled my points on in unreadable handwriting, so I wouldn’t get to relying on reading my notes. It worked well. Doing public presentations was usually much worse than livestock judging, probably because you had a lot longer to think about it and a lot more time before the judges. We would use the same general idea in that one of the other boys that did public presentations and lived nearby would come over to our place on occasion and we would go over our presentations to each other. That cleared up a lot of bad spots I am sure! What was an even greater benefit to me at least was the fact that “Aaron is coming over tomorrow so I HAVE to work on my presentation before he gets here and finds me unprepared!” I tend to work better under pressure and get really lazy if left alone so this was a good thing for me.
Memorizing scripture is far more important than any livestock judging competition or presentation. I have found lately that since I have been exercising my memory a little more than is usual I can retain the scriptures much better than even two weeks ago! Two verses memorized this morning while I was getting the fire going in order to cook breakfast! I am hoping to improve significantly over time. One thing I miss is having someone to goad me on to get it done before they get here and I have to recite!
Usually the problem with spending time reading and memorizing the Word has been so many other things demanding my time or attention, from the telephone (solved that one!) to what to cook for dinner and everything else imaginable. Some people tell us that God should be the highest priority in our lives. This cannot be! How can you assign God a priority? He is not something we can compare with other things and assign a value to. No, God is not the highest priority in my life. He is my life. If something comes between us it had better be thrown out. The phone ringing off the hook? Get rid of it. I haven’t died yet from not having one! I’ve even found a solution to the making dinner excuse I often had. Just don’t make it! So far I’ve found that I can get by on toast and water just fine, and I can read, pray or memorize while making that.
You know what’s sad? I have spent countless nights reading a novel or other entertaining book until 3 or 4 in the morning without even getting tired. I checked one time and I could read a book the size of the Bible in a couple of nights and often did just that. Of course when I tried reading the Bible instead I would fall asleep at about 9:30! One time though, I got into a deep discussion by letter with a guy and I could stay up reading the Bible for hours, all night a few times, searching for what I needed to answer. I think I need to keep finding things that make me need to search for answers so I keep that kind of interest! The other night I went to bed with the song from Psalm 119 running through my head “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” This was the verbatim version that uses the whole section from the Bible not the Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant version. Laying there thinking about it in the dark the thought came to me; His Word is a lamp to my feet all right, but lamps need fuel and how much fuel does mine have? If it goes out I have no light and no clue where to go or even where I am or what I’m doing. If I don’t continually fill up with His Word every day I’ll run out of oil in my lamp and plunge into darkness. It isn’t hard to do really. When we are in darkness we can sin and not even be bothered by it because we don’t see it for what it really is in all of that darkness! A few verses before the ones used for the song in Psalm 119 it says “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” I guess turning on the light and seeing how far off of the path and into destruction we have gone without the light would be about as shocking as when I looked into the mirror while backing the car out of the garage this morning and saw my face for the first time in about a week of no shower and not shaving! It doesn’t appear to take a rocket scientist to figure out that if we have our path brightly lit with the Word of God, we will be able to see the traps of the enemy and we will be able to stay on the track. Also the Word of God is called a sword in another place. Not only is it a light but a Sword! If I were to be in a dangerous place there are two things I would want. A good light and a good weapon. I prefer a gun to a sword these days but in life the Sword which is the Word of God is far better than any gun or sword that I’ve ever seen!