Recently I was challenged by one of my pastors to commit a passage of Scripture to memory. I have many fond memories of verses learned in childhood at Sunday school class and Bible clubs and Christian camps. And I’ve grown up understanding the importance of memorizing Scripture, hiding God’s word in my heart, “that I might not sin against” Him (Psalm 119:11).
It suddenly struck me as I considered the passage my pastor had assigned me, that I could use a familiar hymn tune as a mnemonic device (a memory-aid), if I could find a melody that closely followed the rhythm of the words of the Scripture in question. Some of the words might have to be combined with a single note in some cases, but who knew? I decided to give my idea a try.
The tune I landed on for my experiment was the famous Beethoven theme, “Ode to Joy,” often used for the hymn poem, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.”
With this melody in your mind, try fitting in the following words from Titus 2:11-14 (ESV):
“For the grace of God has appeared,
Bringing salvation for all people,
Training us to renounce ungodliness
And worldly passions, and to live
Self-controlled, upright and godly lives
In the present age, waiting for
Our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory
Of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
(repeat last four lines of the tune)
Who gave Himself for us to redeem us
From all lawlessness, and to purify
For Himself a people for His own
Possession who are zealous for good works”
What a great, encouraging passage! And after singing it over and over in my mind, writing it on a card and glancing at it to jog my 58-year-old brain, I could actually type it out word-for-word from memory! I did this about a month ago, now, and the passage is still fresh in my mind, partly because it is forever linked to that melody by good ol’ Ludwig von B.
Once I’d succeeded in that first experiment, I simply couldn’t resist trying it again with other passages. I went back to my pastor and reported my success, requesting that he choose another section from the Bible for me to commit to memory. Here is the one he suggested. It comes from Psalm 73:21-28, and I used the tune to the hymn, “The God of Abraham Praise.”
“When my heart was grieved,
And my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant,
I was a brute beast before You.
Yet I am always with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel and afterward,
You will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And earth has nothing I desire besides You.
My flesh and heart may fail, but You are the strength
Of my heart and my portion forever.
All who are far from You will perish;
You destroy all who’re unfaithful to You.
But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made
The Sovereign Lord my refuge. (repeat last line of tune)
I will tell of all Your deeds.”
I know...it’s hard to fit in some of those words to the Abraham tune, but you have to divide up some of the quarter notes into eighth notes, such as in the second line of the second stanza:
“And earth-has no-thing I-de sire-be sides You”
(the dashes indicate where a quarter note has been replaced with 2 shorter notes)
Again, that passage is one well worth taking time to memorize! And I found that the choice of tune works well in jogging my memory when I want to recall those wise words of Asaph.
This musical memory technique became so rewarding, I stopped waiting for my pastor to make suggestions and started hunting for target passages on my own! Here is a great section from the New Testament book of Colossians that one of my pastors is beginning to preach on. I chose to memorize it to the tune of the hymn, “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”
“Since then you have been raised with Christ,
Set your hearts on things above,
Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above,
Not on earthly things; for you died,
And your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears,
You also will appear with Him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whate’er belongs
To your earthly nature: sexual immorality,
Impurity, lust, evil desires and greed,
Which is idolatry.
(I found that stanza especially challenging!)
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
You used to walk in these ways
In the life you once lived, but now you must rid
Yourselves of all such things as these:
Anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language
From your lips. Do not lie to each other,
For you have put off the old self with its practices
And have put on the new self,
(Now, repeat lines 3 and 4)
Which is being renewed in knowledge in
The image of its Creator.”
Believe it or not, I’m typing all of these out from memory!! This might be just a quirky thing that works for odd-balls like me, but I thought I would share it with my readers, in the off chance that they might wish to give it a shot. After all, knowing God’s word has always been important for believers in Christ--and it promises to be all the more important in the years and generations ahead.
Why not try this technique for yourself, or come up with your own and share it with your friends? Having helpful passages of Scripture “at my fingertips” and singing these truths to myself has become a major source of joy and spiritual blessing for me, and I hope you will find it likewise.
Here’s one more passage I’ve worked on, from Psalm 51, to the tune of “What Child Is This?”
“Have mercy on me O God,
According to Your steadfast love;
According to Your abundant mercy,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin,
For I know my transgressions and
My sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You may be justified in your words
And blameless in Your judgment.
Behold, I was bro’t forth in iniquity
And in sin did my mother conceive me;
Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being,
And You teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean,
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness, make
The bones You have broken rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sin
And blot out all my iniquities;
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Your presence and
Take not Your Holy Spirit from me;
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and
Uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will return to You.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation. (repeat last line)
And my lips will sing aloud of Your righteousness.”
