I was never a fancy sunglass wearing kind of person, but I
married a Southern Californian who has an ‘Oakley’ habit. I could never spend
more than $10 on a pair of sunglasses because I tend to break or lose them. But
one day while we were buying my husband his umpteenth pair of Oakley’s (his
collection of Oakley’s is similar to my shoe collection) he decided his wife
needed to own a pair as well. I was very nervous about spending that much money
on something knowing my clumsy tendencies with sunglasses, yet I walked out
with a pair. So here I am 5 years later with not one but two pairs of Oakley’s,
I have not lost or broken either pair. How could I go from breaking and losing
the cheap-y sunglasses to keeping one pair this long? Simple, I’m VERY careful
with them because they cost a lot more!
Obey my commands, and you will live. Guard my teachings as
you would your own eyes. (Proverbs 7:2 NCV)
Here I am being ultra-careful with my expensive sunglasses,
but I’m not near as careful with GOD’s teachings. GOD’s wisdom, commandments
and teachings are priceless and far more valuable than a pair of sunglasses, so
why have I been so careless with GOD’s Word?
I have a hard time memorizing scripture; it is not easy
for me at all, which is also very frustrating to me! As I'm reading the Bible or when I’m writing my blog, I’ll think of a scripture related to what I've read or written, but only bits and pieces of it, so I’ll
have to Google it to find the actual verse. Or I will be talking with
someone and say, “oh you know that verse, Matthew 6 or is it verse 6?,” and
then I’ll grab my iPhone and try to look up the verse from my Bible app,
but by the time I find the scripture, the moment is gone and it’s a loss
opportunity.
Memorizing scripture could be
called a sacrifice on my part, as much as giving up chocolate! But I see now, that to obey GOD’s commands and guard GOD’s teachings, I need to put
more effort into memorizing scriptures!
Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep
within your heart. (Proverbs 7:3 NLT)
Before there were data planners and smart phones to remind us of important things, people would tie a string on their finger to remind them they had something important they need not forget! So a modern Bible might say instead, put this on your reminder list and set an alert to 'Remember GOD's teachings'! So once I begin to memorize GOD’s Word it will be much easier
to write HIS Words deep within my heart. We want GOD's Word to become second nature to us, if it's as difficult for you as it is for me, be strengthened and know that we can pray and ask that GOD would give us the ability to memorize HIS Word! I believe that is a prayer GOD would bless us with without any delay because when we know
GOD’s Word, we will start LIVING HIS Word!