How a Waitress in Texas Changed the Way I Think about Scripture Memorization

My maternal grandfather, “Pappaw,” was a Gideon. The primary mission of the Gideons is Bible distribution, which is why you will find a Gideon Bible in nearly every hotel room in America. And Pappaw was no ordinary Gideon. He was once the president of the Gideons for the entire state of Texas.

Back in the 1990s, when my family would visit my Texas kinfolk and Pappaw was still alive, I would go with Pappaw to one of his weekly Saturday morning Gideon breakfasts, where, on account of their great respect for Pappaw and also because he had been an attorney, the other Gideons would call him “Judge.” So I would bask in Judge’s reflected glory as I went with him to one of his breakfast meetings with the Gideons.

Their server was usually a woman named Molly, and over the years the Gideons got to know her well.

They had a custom of every man reciting a verse before they would commence to breakfast. I remember a Saturday morning when one of the Gideons was having trouble reciting his verse from John 17 (Jesus’ prayer on the night before he died). Molly, who was pouring coffee, kindly helped him out by saying the verse, but without missing a beat as she continued to pour, she went on to recite the rest of the chapter.

The men knew that Molly was a church-going woman, but it surprised them to learn that she had memorized this long passage of Scripture.

“Molly!” they said to her. “When did you memorize John 17?”

“I guess I didn’t,” she replied as she poured, “I’ve just read it so much that I know it.”

Molly had inadvertently memorized an entire chapter in the Bible.

How?

She had savored it.

She had savored it repeatedly, over time.

To use the language of the psalms, Molly had hidden God’s Word in her heart.

Molly was onto something that can be a great help to us in engaging the Scripture: it’s never about quantity, it’s always about quality.

It’s never a question of how much Scripture I have read or studied or memorized. It’s always about how deeply God’s Word has penetrated my heart and mind.

When I was in college, I checked the mail every day for a letter from my fiancée. It made my day when I saw an envelope with my name and address written in her handwriting.

I didn’t just read those letters. Those words were composed by, written by the very hand of my Beloved. I savored those words because they were delicious, far too precious to rush through. There was no scanning a letter from Nanette; it had to be savored. Repeatedly.

The only way God’s Word can deeply penetrate my heart is for me to engage it the way I read those letters. I must engage Scripture with my whole self, not just my mind but my imagination and my affections as well.

How can I “savor” God’s Word?

We’ve already said in these pages that a “checklist spirituality” approach to any spiritual discipline is a lose-lose proposition: with a checklist you either “fail,” and you are tempted to despair; or you “succeed,” and you are tempted to self-righteous pride. And I don’t need to point out that neither despair nor self-righteousness is the desired outcome of spiritual discipline. 

So how can I leave behind a “checklist spirituality” approach to Scripture engagement and begin to savor God’s Word so that it penetrates deeply into my heart?

The first thing I must do is bid farewell to productivity. This isn’t about achievement, and it certainly isn’t about efficiency.

If I want to savor God’s Word, I need to take my time, I need to play the long game.

Here’s a practical suggestion: when you find that a verse has resonated with you, write it down on an index card and carry it with you, or post it somewhere you’ll see it often. Take frequent opportunities to enjoy that verse throughout the day. Do that for several days in a row.

Talk to God about it (after all, it is His Word, and He would be delighted to hear what you have to say about it).

Tell someone else about what that verse means to you, why it is so precious.

Day after day, let the words and phrases echo in the back of your head. Dwell on them because they are beautiful and precious.

And as you interact with the same verse day after day, you can begin to commit it to memory.

You won’t memorize vast swaths of Scripture this way, at least not in a week or a month, or even in a year. But you’ve already said goodbye to efficiency, so no worries there.

What you will do is create the conditions where the gravy can soak into the bread.

You’ll find yourself doing what Molly did: as you savor God’s Word, it will find its way deep into your heart.

Persevere,

Paul Pyle

Discipleship Pastor