Ms. Team (Memorizing Scripture): Eighth Post

Hey There Ms. Team,

If you are on this journey of memorizing God’s Word my guess is there have been days when the enemy of your soul has caused you to question if it was worth the effort and maybe even talked you into giving up. Don’t give in!

Just last week God took me on a personal journey that was another reminder of how much I needed His Word tucked deep in my mind and heart. One of my boys has been struggling physically for some time now and we had some unfavorable results come back with his blood work. The Doctor called over the weekend to share the results and asked us to come back the following week for more tests. He talked over some possibilities but asked me not to worry.

Not to worry? Are you kidding me? My mothering instincts kicked into high gear and instead of "not worrying" my mind took me through every agonizing possibility and then ruthlessly dropped me in the dark of night, wrestling with the worst. My stomach was in a knot and my mind and body ached with the restlessness and exhaustion that worry brings.

By the second night of this I was desperate for relief and sleep. I finally called out to the Lord to take the anxious thoughts away. That is when He began to fill my mind with the verses I had memorized throughout the course of the year. Like credits rolling after a movie one replaced the next and then the next and the next.

Some of them spoke directly into my situation.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

"The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that." Prov 29:25

Other ones didn’t speak so directly into the moment but they had the same effect of a cleansing fountain washing away the muddy clutter in my mind.

I don’t remember at what point I drifted from the restful place of Scripture into a deep slumber but I remember waking up sustained and so grateful to Him for rescuing me from myself again.

You will never regret the energy, the time, the effort you put into memorizing God’s Word.

Never.

A few nights later my son called me into his room and shared in a few brief sentences a fear that was causing him to lose sleep.

"What do you do when you can’t sleep Mom?"

Tears streamed down my cheeks in the darkness of his room as I knelt by his bed and shared my own fresh experience of allowing fear and worry to imprison and exhaust me. In that moment I spoke to him not as a parent to a child but as a fellow sojourner in a similar struggle.

"You and I are helpless to rescue ourselves from these things Son - but we have a rescuer in Christ. And ‘He will keep you in perfect peace as your mind is stayed on Him because you trust in Him.' Look to Him. Let the verses you have memorized in the past roll through your mind and as they do ask Him to remove your fears as He lulls you to sleep. Take it to Him Son, He won’t fail you."

I left his room sensing the unsparing peace that had been poured out for the both of us. The peace that extinguishes fear.

I am so grateful we have a Rescuer. I am so grateful for His living and active Word and what it does in our lives.

How has it spoken to you recently?

But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill.
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. Psalm 3:3-6 (NIV)