In the longest chapter of one of the longest books of the Bible, the psalmist wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Ps 119:11, NIV).
All 176 verses of this psalm are dedicated to the written revelation of God, because of its supreme value. In particular, this psalmist at the time valued it for how it might help keep him from sin.
Most of us have heard the old expression, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.” The point of that idiom is to warn ourselves to not miss the big picture (forest) as a result of focusing on the individual details (trees). We can easily become so engrossed in trying to master every detail of some project or task that we end up losing sight of what was important about the certain project or task in the first place. The old expression still holds true and is useful for us today and yet, we must spend a lot of time looking at the trees. And, not only the trees but the leaves on the trees, and not just the leaves, but the veins on the leaves found on the trees, which are in the forest.
What Does a Forest Have to Do with the Bible?
The Bible is a forest full of trees and these trees appear as the books of the Bible. Sixty-six books in total make up the entire biblical canon and they are there for us to know God in the way that He has revealed Himself to the world. Within those books (trees) of the Bible are thousands of Bible verses (leaves) that also need our attention. The individual verses in the Bible are the means by which we come to know God. We do not take in the entire theme of the Bible in one shot. We have to read every word of every verse of every paragraph of every chapter of every book to begin to get a grasp of this enormously glorious God. Therefore, we cannot neglect those leaves on the trees and we must pay attention to the veins on the leaves because, without them, we will lose the forest.
How Does Memorization Help?
Scripture memorization is a means – among many others – that can be used to know God more completely. Memorization of individual verses, entire chapters, or entire books of the Bible works in us and through us for ministering to others and to ourselves, which, in turn, works to bring this God that was once misunderstood into the light so we can see and know Him better. When memorizing verses or larger sections of the Bible we are forced to work word-by-word as we commit each word and then each verse to memory. As we work through this process the Holy Spirit begins to show us things that we did not see before. When we are diligently working word-by-word through a verse we begin to soak in what the biblical authors were receiving. We feel their heart and the heart of our Lord as He is ministering to us through words written long before.
How to Balance the Trees and the Forest
Even with all of that, a balance must be struck. We still cannot forsake the forest for the trees but we also cannot forsake the trees while attempting to see the entire forest. The balance needed to see the trees as well as the forest is struck through partaking in both the discipline of Scripture memorization as well as reading large portions of the Bible in one sitting, and then repeating that process over and over again. One could memorize in the morning while saving the evening for a reading time that is not focused on the trees but instead, works to take in the whole theme of a certain book. Once that routine is established, the person who works to both memorize for the trees and read for the forest will begin to grasp the entirety of the Bible while being able to point out the magnificent trees (verses) that can still be found. Either way it’s done – memorizing in the morning or evening while reading at the opposite end of the day – we must do both because without the discipline of seeing the forest as well as the trees we will begin to see only one and thus, less than what is offered.