I was talking with one of the students recently and asked him how he was processing the current events. His response was, “World’s crazy.”
The world is crazy at times. The world, marred by sin, is extremely broken and hurtful.
So often, life is crazy. It has been discouraging at times. These past few days, weeks, and months have been so difficult in so many ways. It is hard to hold on to hope when all seems hopeless. It is hard to see the silver lining when the clouds are so dark. And yet, in the midst of the darkness, the light of Christ still shines.
The first thing that came to mind when that student wrote that the world is crazy is John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” The world is crazy, but Jesus has conquered the craziness.
This leads me to what has been helpful personally in my life during this time: memorizing scripture.
I have never been the best at it, but what I’ve found is that any level of faithful intentionality in reading our Bibles and memorizing God’s Word will be blessed. I have found the Holy Spirit bringing to light verses that I memorized in my early years of faith in Jesus, at just the right time that I need to hear them. As we memorize scripture, what we find is that Psalm 119:105 rings ever true in our lives. His word will be the lamp that guides our feet and lights our path.
I’d love to offer two things to aid us in the process of memorizing scripture: a short list of some helpful verses to memorize during this time, and a helpful tool in doing so.
I’ll start with the latter.
The Verses Project
A helpful tool in memorizing scripture comes from a group of friends who started The Verses Project.
Verses Project intends to make memorization and meditation sustainable, accessible, and even joyful. Every week, we pick a memory verse and post a song to help you hear and sing God’s Word; we post artwork to save on your mobile device, desktop, or for your wall so that you might not only hear it, but also constantly see it, be reminded of it, and treasure it; finally, we post a devotional blog to help you think on and engage with the text.”
Excerpt, http://theversesproject.com/about
I have found so much benefit from listening to the songs and even now find myself singing scripture in my commute or in my prayer life. If you don’t know where to start in memorizing scripture, this website will help so much!
But ultimately, the way they encourage people to memorize scripture is through reading and speaking the verse regularly, posting it in places around your home or on your phone lock screen where you will see it regularly, and reading devotionals about the verse or that are based on that verse. These things will help you immerse yourself in the verse.
Once you have a verse or verses memorized, you can start to move on to the next one to add to your personal memory library. What you will find over time is that the Holy Spirit will remind you of these verses in times that would be helpful.
Verses to Memorize
If you don’t know where to start, here is a short list of some of my personal favorite verses to memorize (in no particular order).
- Psalm 1 (http://theversesproject.com/verses/229/Psalm-1.1-3)
- John 16:33
- John 1:5
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17
- Romans 8:1 (http://theversesproject.com/verses/232/Romans-8.1)
- Psalm 51:10-12
- Matthew 11:28-30 (http://theversesproject.com/verses/222/Matthew-11.28-30)
- Psalm 119:105