January Scripture Memorization

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty,
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD,
And You are exalted as head over all.
Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In your hand is power and might;
In your hand it is to make great,
And to give strength to all.
Now, therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name.”
1 Chronicles 29:11-13 (NKJV)

Around Christmastime, my mom texted me and my sister to see if we could learn these Bible verses together. I agreed, and it took me the whole month of January to learn them completely. (I find memorizing harder the older I get!)

These verses were part of the prayer and praise that King David gave to God upon the collection from the people of all kinds of offerings to be used in building the temple.

As I’ve rehearsed these verses this month, I can’t think of a single situation in life where this doesn’t bring encouragement! Our Lord is sovereign. He rules over all and is exalted over all. All things are his (in heaven and in earth, all greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty), and all is in his hand to give. He is worthy of praise!

You can take these verses with you anywhere. I’ve recited them in my living room and in my car, in the doctor’s office and as I traveled. I’ve pondered the repeated words, such as “all” (this leaves out nothing and no one!) and “hand” and “power,” and I’ve been reminded of other verses that have taught me similar things (Jeremiah 32:17, Psalm 103:19, etc.). And I leave my time of interacting with these verses full of wonder and praise and thanks.

I’ve realized how easy it is to forget the value of memorizing Bible verses, sometimes going long periods of time without doing this spiritual discipline. But what a blessing when we do! There are so many benefits, including:

• Hiding them in our hearts to help guard us from sin (Psalm 119:11).
• Keeping our minds focused on those things that are good and true and right, noble and pure, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8).
• Giving us direction as God’s Word is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path (Psalm 109:105).
• Providing us with new words to use when we pray and praise God, using Scripture as a pattern.
• Applying them to our everyday lives and the situations we encounter.
• Having something to share with others to encourage them.
• Knowing God’s Word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11).

So I’ve challenged myself to pick a short passage of the Bible to memorize each month of 2020. It doesn’t have to be long, just a few verses. But something is better than nothing. Though I wish it were otherwise, we tend to grow little by little, step by step, not typically in large leaps and bounds. But after a while, with a little time, you see the cumulative effect of those little steps and daily decisions in big ways!

If I can keep up, by the end of 2020, I’ll have added a short collection of new verses, and by giving a month for each selection, they can be fully learned.

So along with that stack of books I hope to read in 2020, I add to it a list of memory verses from the living Book that will give us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). I invite you to join me!

How have you seen memorizing Scripture impact your life?