Testify and Clarify

I experienced something this morning that I have not experienced in a long time. I slept till 10:00 am! Last night I went to sleep around 8:30 pm. If the old lady in me hadn't kicked in, I think I could have slept till noon, but stuff started hurting and that is what woke me up.


We drove up and back to Arlington yesterday for Gene Brooks funeral, Peggy Bain's father. It was such a wonderful service because PeePaw was such a wonderful man. Someone wrote on Facebook to Peggy that it is one of the few memorial services that everyone left smiling. What a tribute and what a joy to honor such a gracious and funny man. I knew the apple didn't fall far from the tree, but I have a greater appreciation and love for Peggy as she carries on the legacy of her dad.


This morning it occurs to me that I might need to clear a couple of things up. I have written and been wondering about scripture memorization. Believe me I am all over it and desire to memorize more and to hide the Word in my heart, that my words are acceptable and pleasing to God. It just has seemed like I have encountered numerous individuals who seem to be flaunting their memorization rather than pleasing God with it. My question and thoughts have been, how do you memorize scripture and use this in everyday life without seeming prideful about it. When I question stuff, it may come across as acerbic and sarcastic, but that is not my heart. I am truly trying to understand, how does this work? A couple of weeks ago at Tuesday Night Bible study with Beth Moore, I saw the answer. She quoted several verses from memory, but instead of announcing she has memorized this verse, she easily shares it. I also love that she has us look at verses throughout the study and we are probably looking at verses that she has memorized but seeing the words helps the Word come alive to visual learners like me.


And weird prayer time. Y'all sometimes that is exactly what it can be. Years ago at a women's retreat, our table totally misunderstood the instructions of our table prayer time. The prayer time was getting stranger and weirder by the moment and several of us were rather uncomfortable in the direction this activity was taking. The leader of the retreat walked by and I asked her if we were doing the correct thing. Of course we weren't and she made us start all over again to do it correctly. Which made the whole experience weirder and weirder. Thus that is how I came up with the term weird prayer time.


I have not received any emails or comments that have disagreed with anything written. In fact, I have received many emails and comments affirming what I have written and pondered over. But I do not want to offend anyone or have anyone misconstrue what I have expressed. It may seem strange coming from me, but memorizing God's Word and Prayer are not activities that should be bantered about lightly. I feel this now more especially as I have been involved with Community Bible Study and our studying the Divided Kingdoms. Just seeing how truly spectacular Solomon's temple dedicated to the Lord was and studying how Solomon slipped away from the things of God little by little has reinforced my belief that we simply do not honor God with what He has given us to love and please Him. Corporate prayer is not another form of announcements or the way to quiet a group. We shouldn't use prayer to re-set a stage or give time for the next thing to happen. Knowing and loving scripture that we have hidden in our heart is not just another way to teach a class, write a book, seek speaking engagments, seem more spiritual or continually announce achievements in this arena. And I don't want to get legalistic about prayer and scripture, just honoring them and the sacredness that comes from them. When I was a kid somehow I got the idea that if I threw my Bible that I would hurt my parents and church. One day my mom took me aside and said, when you throw your Bible across the room, it doesn't hurt me or the church, but you are dishonoring God and the great price He paid by sending Jesus to die for our sins. That little talk has never left me and I guess when I see God's stuff being thrown around for other intentions than what it was meant for, I think we are dishonoring God. We should pray cause we really want to listen to Him and talk with Him. Memorizing His Word is because we love Him and want to know Him and out of the overflow of speaking with Him and knowing what He says should be an overflow of a grateful heart full of His love.


Thanks for reading this long post. I appreciate your patience with me as I learn about and love God. My desire is to be like Psalm 92 fruitful and useful in old age.