Verses

(Get comfortable and hang in there---it’s a long one. Or maybe I should say, longer than usual one.)

Verses. I love verses. Scripture, the Word, promises, precepts, statutes, laws, decrees, commandments- there are many names for His Words, each communicating a unique facet of it’s intention and possessing the ability to shoot an arrow straight to my heart’s deepest need. One priority for me in raising Julia and Brighton is for them to ‘hide’ God’s Word in their hearts as the psalmist says in chapter 119 verse 11. As much as I love Emily Dickinson’s poetic expressions like, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul,” or even contemporary author Phillip Yancey’s profound statements like, “Until we can come face to face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God’s character, we do not yet know Him,” they are like a dandelion blowing in the wind compared to the unchanging, inerrant Word of God.

Before Julia could speak I used to casually say Psalm 23 while I was buckling her in or fixing her breakfast, and one day, when I paused to answer the telephone, she filled in the blank and we were on our way! I was amazed at her capacity to memorize even though I had heard God’s word roll off the tongues of toddlers her age. But you know how it is. When it is YOUR kid, you want to think they are the only one who has EVER done it throughout the history of mankind. So, she continued her “shock and awe” campaign for Daddy and Mommy memorizing anything we repeated a few times………… until at the ripe age of 21 months her brother came along and all we were memorizing was where we dropped the last passy. Then, after a few months, I was thankful Julia could still sing her ABC’s, Jesus Loves Me and name her colors. When days became slightly more predictable (a.k.a. synchronized napping) with two in diapers, I slowly began reviewing what we had learned pre-Brighton. A few years have passed and now little brother is chiming in and sometimes prompting Julia of what comes next—which, by the way, completely unravels her. For a while there though, EVERY scripture Brighton learned ended in a resounding, “He restores my SOUL!”

As I review with them what they have memorized (in hopes of it being etched on their hearts), I keep reminding myself how much His Word meant to me while growing up. I didn’t memorize my first passage until I was 11 or 12 probably but, oh my, what an impact it and all the others made and are STILL making. This is such my motivation in helping the children memorize it.

The first verse I ever memorized was given to me by our church pianist, Mrs. Janie. It was hand written on a small square sheet of yellow paper. I don’t think anything precipitated her giving it to me. I think she was just encouraging me and challenging me in her sweet quiet way. It was Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” I still have that piece of paper tucked away in my Bible.

I think of verses so new to me in high school that I read over and over again. I Timothy 4:12, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, love, faith, conduct and purity, show yourself as an example of those who believe.” I wanted to please Him in all of those ways. And I Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the whole earth strongly supporting those whose hearts are completely His.” I wanted my heart to stop His eyes. I remember a time when I had acted completely out of line with my Mom (one of way too many times, mind you) and I left a verse on her mirror that God strategically had me read that very night. Philippians 2:3-5, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but with humility of mind consider one another as more important than yourself. Do not merely look out for your own interests but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus.” Those verses forced me to be faced with the disappointing reality that the world DID spin around someone else and that I had responded horribly. I wanted my Mom to know I knew that and I was sorry.

As I was trying to figure out my place and purpose at the University of Georgia, verses like II Timothy 2:22, “Now flee from youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith and purity,” and Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” came into to full focus. After finding out rather quickly that my place was at the library and my main purpose was to keep my nose was in a book verses like James 1:4 that said, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything,” helped me read that last hour on the 2nd floor of the Science Library. I can remember a couple of life altering nights in college that I wanted His Word near to me when I slept because of the comfort it brought.

When I married, that relationship opened up a whole new category of verses for me. Many I knew but never had put into practice like the traditional verses from Ephesians 5, “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord………….in everything…………the wife must respect her husband,” and the amazing I Corinthians 13 that I saw in a new context. However, I cannot count the times I read (and STILL read) Galatians chapter 5 realizing after the zillionth reading that THIS was the key to Ephesians 5. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Experiencing infertility had to be the time in my life that I clung most tightly to this life giving Word. How could I not with verses like Psalm 31:19, “How great is your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You,” and Psalm 113:9, “He will settle the barren woman in her home and make her the happy mother of children,”? When adoption was reality for us and our baby, Julia, was born, we were waiting (in the hospital) the period of time that Julia’s birthmother could change her mind and He gave me Psalm 112:7 in a very special way. “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast trusting in the Lord.” Before our second child was born, He confirmed the name, Brighton, we chose for our son by giving me the verse from Proverbs 4:18, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” I can’t help but interject here that our God and what He has to say is good.

I love His Word. There is just nothing like it. What letters on a page can do what His do? His are living and active. His are profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. His are sharper than a double edged sword. His are a lamp and light to my feet. His penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. His are sweet to my soul and healing to my bones. His judge the thoughts and intentions of my heart. His were here in the beginning. His became flesh. His stand forever.

“Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping Your decrees to the very end.” Psalm 119:111-112
May His grace make it happen.