How to Get a Grip on the Scriptures

“Get a grip!” Many people use this phrase, meaning to get control of oneself or to not get so worked up about something. Can’t stop complaining about things happening in your life? ‘Get a grip!’ If watching the news makes you depressed, ‘Get a grip!’ Consumed with envy over what other people have? ‘Get a grip!’

But there are other, broader senses of that phrase. The most obvious would apply to people who work with their hands, like carpenters, plumbers, or artists. If using a hammer, wrench, or paintbrush, you better ‘get a grip’ if you’re going to accomplish whatever you’re trying to do. When I was taking drum lessons, I discovered ‘getting a grip’ was easier said than done – trying to move quickly around the drum kit, occasionally a drumstick would slip out of my hands.

 

Of even greater importance is getting a grip on a particular pursuit, achieving a measure of mastery in a chosen skill or discipline. I admire people demonstrating great expertise at whatever they do, whether it’s interior design, accounting, teaching, genealogy, mechanics, culinary arts, or other such vocational or avocational interests. But they didn’t achieve their excellence overnight; it took countless hours to ‘get a grip’ – to master what they desired to do.

 

The same holds true in a spiritual sense. For instance, gaining a deep understanding of the Scriptures isn’t something that can be achieved by spending a few minutes now and then. The typical Bible has more than 1,500 pages – the truths they contain are deep enough to fill the lifetime of even the most determined theologian.

 

That doesn’t mean biblical teachings are unfathomable for the ‘layman,’ someone who has never darkened the halls of a seminary, much less preached from a pulpit. To get a grip on the Scriptures, all we need to do is look at our hands. 

 

As I’ve mentioned before, my journey as a disciple of Jesus Christ began years ago when I joined a small group that used study materials developed by The Navigators. Originally focused on ministering to people in the armed forces, the Navs eventually expanded to college campuses and churches. One strategy for teaching how to get a grip on the Bible was what they called “the hand illustration.”

Why the hand? Pick up a Bible with one hand. Then transfer it to your other hand but try holding it only with your little finger. It’ll fall, right? Attempt this again, using only your little finger and thumb. Your grip on the book is tenuous; it can easily be pulled from your grasp. Add a third finger, then a fourth, and finally all five. Now you’ll have a strong grip on the Bible – someone would have a hard time wresting it out of your hand.

 

In a similar sense, it requires five ‘fingers’ to gain a strong grip on God’s Word. Each finger on the hand represents an action step for internalizing the Scriptures and learning how to put the truths and principles into use. The five are to: hear, read, study, memorize, and meditate.

 

Hear. It starts with hearing, whether a sermon at church, a message at a conference, a program on the radio, or even a conversation with a follower of Jesus. As Romans 10:17 explains, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

 

Read. Next comes reading the Scriptures for yourself, seeking to learn who God is and the truths He reveals through His Word. “Blessed is the one who read the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it…” (Revelation 1:3).

 

Study. The third ‘finger’ in this process is studying – when the hard work really begins. It’s more than just reading what the Bible says. It’s digging, seeking to understand its meaning and discover treasures it contains for today and for eternity. In Acts 17:11 we see an example: “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” We’re to be like the diligent, studious Bereans.

 

Memorize. When we encounter especially meaningful verses or passages in the Bible, one of the best ways for internalizing them is to commit them to memory. Then, like building a spiritual filing cabinet, they’re accessible for use without having to open a Bible. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says they’re to become such a part of us they work themselves into everyday conversations: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” 

 

Another passage that affirms Scripture memorization is Psalm 119:9,11 in which King David says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word…. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”

 

Meditate. Finally, we have meditation. This isn’t mindless repetition of some mystical mantra, or emptying one’s mind. It’s deeply pondering a specific passage, striving to draw as much insight and understanding from it as you can. Kind of like a cow chewing its cud over and over, seeking to get as much nutrition out of it as possible. This is addressed in Psalm 1:2, which describes a “blessed” man whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.”

 

Do you desire to get a grip on the Word of God, to become a ‘person of the Book’? Then make every effort to hear, read, study, memorize, and meditate. Over time you’ll find the truths of the Scriptures becoming part of you more and more.

Utilizing the ‘MMA’ for Spiritual Growth

Are you familiar with MMA? If not, it stands for Mixed Martial Arts, a sport that includes boxing and a mix of other combative techniques. The reason I ask is because every day we are all involved a battle – spiritual in nature – and one way of achieving victory is through another type of MMA: Memorization, Meditation and Application.

Spiritual growth, I’ve discovered, isn’t a continual upward trajectory. Initially it might seem that way, but sooner or later everyone hits a plateau, maybe even slips back a bit. We and Jesus don’t just ride off into the sunset without ever looking back.

This can be disconcerting because we live in an instant, right-now society. We’d like to become spiritual giants immediately; we don’t want to go through the daily grind that maturing in our walk with Christ requires. But we don’t have any choice in the matter.

Many books have been written about the process of growing in our faith, so I won’t try to present a simple how-to here. But if we can get a handle on the importance of “spiritual MMA,” that would be a good start.

Years ago, The Navigators developed what they called the “Word Hand Illustration,” representing five methods for effectively taking in the Word of God. The five fingers represent hearing, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating. This have proved helpful for my own spiritual growth, and I’m going to focus briefly on the importance of Memorization and Meditation. But I think the “hand” might need a sixth finger - Application. Thus, the “MMA.”

Most of us have heard the Word preached and taught through sermons, or at conferences and retreats. Reading the Bible is an excellent habit some of us maintain on a daily basis. And the most industrious of us study the Scriptures, perhaps by reading slowly and thoughtfully or using supplemental tools like commentaries and concordances.

But when it comes to memorizing Scripture, or meditating on it, I suspect fewer of us are actively involved in these practices. And it’s to our detriment.

“I can’t memorize things!” people say. Really? We all know phone numbers, home addresses, names of family members and friends (sometimes even their birthdates), our Social Security number, and the days, times and channels our favorite TV shows come on. There are lots of other things we memorize. So the excuse, “I can’t memorize,” isn’t valid unless we have a true memory disability. It all comes down to this: If it’s important enough to remember, we can memorize it if necessary.

I used to fall into the “I can’t memorize Bible verses” camp myself, until I realized that through repetition I had learned passages like Psalm 1, Psalm 100 and Psalm 23 (“the shepherd’s psalm") even as a boy. That was when the Bible could still be read in public schools; too bad that’s no longer the case.

But as an adult, I still didn’t think Scripture memory was for me. Then my wife and I attended a marriage conference where the speakers said memorizing meaningful Bible verses would be helpful. They got us started by teaching 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray without ceasing.” That was it – three words. In short order I had succeeded in memorizing my first verse. 

Then I found an even easier verse that immediately preceded the one I had just learned: “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Wow! Two verses and five words launching my Scripture memory journey.

Soon afterward I got into a small group discipleship program that included learning a total of 65 verses over a period of two years. They weren’t all as simple as the first two I memorized, but this practice proved foundational for my spiritual growth early on. As King David wrote, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word…. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9,11).

That “hiding God’s Word in my heart” became real not only through rote memorization but also through meditation. No, I didn’t sit with legs crossed yoga-style, mumbling some mantra. But I did spend a lot of time pondering not just the words but also what they meant. This brought to mind a verse from one of those psalms I had memorized in my boyhood: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

Preacher Charles H. Spurgeon used to explain that in reviewing Bible passages for his sermons, he would ask, “What does it say? What does it mean? What difference does it make?” This led me to the third part of MMA – application. In fact, I realized that sometimes the best way to memorize a verse or Bible passage, particularly one that was long and complicated, was to put it into practice. 

One of the verses I found especially helpful in this regard was 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” Pondering this verse I concluded that the Word of God is not only inspired by Him through His Spirit, but it’s also intended for practical use in our everyday life.

There’s much more I could say about this, but I’d like to close by asking: Are you taking advantage of “MMA” for the spiritual battles we face each day? 

In the sixth chapter of Ephesians, we read about the “armor of God,” and the one offensive weapon of this armor is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Without striving for mastery of God’s Word, it’s like going to war with guns but no bullets. Is it time you got your ammunition?