Is there a book of
Scripture that you find both fascinating and terrifying? You love to meditate on certain verses and
feel guilty for avoiding the rest of it, but it just seems too hard to even try
to understand?
Hebrews was like
that for me. This anonymous
sermon-transcript contains some of the most beautiful, profound statements in
the Bible, like "it was indeed fitting
that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, unstained, separated
from sinners, and exalted above the heavens;" but at the same time
it contains some of the most doctrinally thorny passages. What do you do with something like "if we go on sinning deliberately, there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful expectation of judgment"?!
When we're
confronted with an intriguing but intimidating portion of Scripture, we should
stop avoiding it and instead confront the challenge head on. God gave it to us so we could know Him better
and love Him more! But if you're like
me, simply reading through the whole
book doesn't do the trick. By the
time we're half-way through we've already forgotten key details, even on our
second or third or tenth trip through. It's hard to remember all the important dots, let alone connect them!
So here's an
idea: Memorize it! Memorize all
of it, not just your favorite bits.
A year and a half
ago I committed to memorizing Hebrews as a 30th birthday present to
myself. I wanted to become familiar with
the less attractive passages and better understand what God is saying through
all the parts put together. And having committed the whole of it to memory, I can testify that through memorization it is possible to hold more of the "dots" in your
head at once and think through the connection between them. Do I now have a perfect understanding of the
Hebrews? Definitely not! But I have a much better understanding and much greater enjoyment of the
text. And that, friends, is well worth
the effort.
P.S.
The little book His Word in My Heart is a great help and encouragement for the challenge of memorizing Scripture in
bulk. An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture also looks helpful although I've not read that one.
P.P.S.
Still reading?!
Then here's a little more about my Hebrews project.
I memorized most of it backward, starting in
chapter 13 and working up from there.
That way even if the memorization effort were aborted I would at least
be more familiar with a part that I wasn't before. (If you decide to try this approach, just be
aware that it can mess with how you view the flow of the text.)
I exercise my memory by compiling indexes. Hebrews in particular is rich with recurring
themes, so as I continue to study the book I sometimes try to list on paper
every occurrence of a certain key word or concept, only looking at the text to
double-check my work afterward. This is
a great study tool as well as a way to help retain the memorized text. (Another great exercise is creating an
outline from memory.)
P.P.P.S
Seriously, if you're
still reading this you need something better to do. Go find a text to memorize and start working!
