This book of law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. Joshua 1:8
Back in the days of Jesus, the rabbis would expect their students to memorise the Torah. They would start at the age of 6 and have it memorised by the age of 10! The first 5 books of the Bible! It is not uncommon for Jewish Believers to memorise the whole old testament. I find that beyond belief! I find it hard enough to memorise single verses. The Torah can mean “teachings” or simply “way”. The Jewish population consider the Torah to be the way, truth and life. Sounds familiar! I am in awe of their dedication and discipline to memorise this text.
To me the verse above makes an important point, as we get very familiar with sections of the bible, it should then be meditated on, allowing God to speak to me about what it means to my with-God life, my inner life and my interactions with my environment. It seems that perhaps the bible isn’t meant to be interpreted without the assistance of God – meditation.
Willard writes “Then the things that come before us during the day come in the presence of God’s illuminating Word. Light dwells within us and enables us to see the things of life in the right way”(Pg 127 The Great Ommission). In your light we see light. Psalm 36:9
Psalm 1 is another passage of text which points to this important spiritual discipline.
About Me
- Chris
- Im a Husband, Dad and Community Development Officer living in Port Noarlunga, South Australia.
2 comments:
Don't know about you mate but I'm terrible at memorising anything but i have noticed that the more I read the bible the more familiar with the character of God I become and in thought and conversation passages do come to mind particularly the words and stories about Jesus. Mind you I can never remember chapter and verse and rarely even book. Also the early followers of Jesus before they became known as Christians were known as followers of the way.
Cheers, Nigel
I know Nige - I'm so the same with memorising text! And yes, I have to agree with you in regards to becoming more familiar with the character of God. I find this with just memorising a few verses, as I mediatate on these words it becomes more illuminating in my mind. I also find that after I have meditated on a verse or a few verses it becomes more stuck in my head for the days to come. I'm the same with the book / verse reference too! When I started memorising verses, I wasn't taking any notice of where they were in the bible...
I think writing them down helps too - I should probably journal them on this blog really.
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