By The Waters
WRITTEN BY RICK NAU
Not long ago I read a message in our church bulletin that led to a great blessing in my life. It was a suggestion that we memorize a psalm, or two, or three . . .
Now, I’ve never been good at memorization. It ranks near the top of things I don’t like to do. But this time something was different. I remembered that God tells us to write his commandments on the tablet of our heart (Proverbs 7:3). (By this he means his word, Jesus Christ being both the Word and the Fulfillment of the Law.) When I checked my own tablet, I saw that it was almost blank.
I began my memorization odyssey with Psalm 23 (lazy me–I already knew most of it), then moved on to Psalm 1, which contains these wonderful words of promise for those who delight and meditate in the law of the Lord: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.” You’ve got to admit, this is a tremendous promise. But as you see, it comes with a condition.
So I’ve started to do my part. Since reading that message I’ve learned by heart Psalms 1, 23, 27, 42 & 103. At night, while I’m walking under the stars, I repeat the words of each of them. While I’m lying in bed, worrying about the coming day, I say them again, replacing my dreary thoughts with the sweet music of his word: “And in the night his song shall be with me–a prayer to the God of my life (Psalm 42:8).”
I can only say it’s worked a miracle in my life. Worry has been replaced with hope. The tablet of my heart is now filled with reminders of the great blessings of the Lord, of his tremendous beauty, of his strength and wisdom and infinite mercy toward his children, of his lovingkindness and tender mercies. And this after only five psalms.
How shall I end this post? With a verse from the Psalms, of course: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).” Maybe this will be the next psalm I memorize. How about you?