Getting a Handle on God’s Word

“I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

My introduction to women’s Bible studies began when I was 25 years old and a new stay-at-home mom with a five-week-old baby. Bruce and I had just moved from a much larger city where most of our extended family and friends lived. His new head coaching job required a lot of hours away from home. Fortunately, we found and joined a small PCA church plant that was committed to women’s discipleship. Unfortunately, none of us were exactly sure where to begin. Someone reached out for information to Briarwood Presbyterian Church. Two women were already in the process of writing and teaching discipleship materials for Briarwood’s women and agreed to help us get started.

Annette and Pat made a great team. Pat had extensive discipleship experience with the Navigators ministry and developed our initial curriculum. Annette hosted our weekly Bible study and taught our training sessions. For six weeks, five women in very different ages and stages of life, carpooled to Birmingham, gathered in Annette’s living room, and were fed God’s Word. But Annette, didn’t just feed our souls; she also fed our bodies. Each week she treated us to lunch and fellowship around her dining room table, refusing to let us bring anything other than our Bibles and ourselves. She modeled hospitality and generosity in making our task as easy as possible. Before we left each week, Annette handed us that week’s lesson and said, “Go teach what you’ve been taught! And when you have, come back for more and we’ll do this again.”

At the end of that six weeks, Annette announced that we were now equipped to disciple someone else. Now in their eighties, Annette and Pat are still discipling, teaching, and training others. I cannot imagine the number of women who have been impacted by their faithful lives of discipleship and multiplication.

One of the earliest tools that Annette and Pat gave us was a simple diagram that helped explain getting a handle on God’s Word. To do that successfully, we not only need to hear God’s Word; we also need to read it. Most experts agree that we only retain about 5% of what we hear. If we add reading God’s Word to hearing it, that number increases to approximately 10%. Studying God’s Word increases our retention to 15-20%, but memorizing and meditating helps us not only increase our retention, but also our understanding. Memorizing and meditating make God’s Word available to us whenever we need it.

Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Deuteronomy 4:1 (NIV)

They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read. Nehemiah 8:8(NIV)

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. Ezra 7:10 (ESV)

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

I will meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. Psalm 119:15 (NIV)

Charles Spurgeon once said, “The Bible in the memory is better than the Bible in the bookcase.” I saw this in my Mama’s life as her memory slowly faded due to a series of strokes and vascular dementia. During Mama’s last seven months it became increasingly difficult for us to carry on a meaningful conversation. I eventually settled on us working our way through Psalm 23, one of the first scripture passages she helped me memorize as a child. With each line of the beloved Psalm, I recited most of the words while Mama usually filled in the very last word. Our reading went like this:

Donna:  The Lord is my
Mama: Shepherd.

Donna: I shall not
Mama: want.

Donna: He leads me beside still
Mama: waters.
       
Donna: He restores my
Mama: soul.

Each time we recited those words they were a comfort, not just to Mama’s soul, but to mine. God used them to remind me that He is indeed the Good Shepherd who gently leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. (Psalm 23:4)

It’s been over forty years since I began my discipleship journey. The pages from those early lessons have yellowed with age, but the lessons taught are still timeless and true and I am still teaching what I was taught. What do you need to do to get a better handle on God’s Word?