No, I am not going to give you any study "shortcuts." In my experience, they aren't worth much. The actual process of studying, the time spent and the work done, is what matters. If you are trying to save time and still learn copious amounts of scripture, your heart is not in it. God expects you to care enough about Him and His Word that you don't mind the time it takes. Besides that, it just won't work.
The issue here is one we all have, and have more and more as we age—remembering what we learned. At the risk of having people laugh at me, I am going to tell you some of the things I do to overcome this problem. I do not expect you to follow the same procedures as I, but to be emboldened to find your own memory crutches, the things that make sense to your mind and that work for you. Mine may not do that. We all seem to learn in different ways, so pay attention to your own particular abilities and use them to the best.
First, there is absolutely nothing wrong with making up little songs to help memorize scriptures or lists in scriptures. You did it as a child when you learned the apostles, the sons of Jacob, and the books of the Bible. The list does not have to rhyme and you do not have to come up with a new tune. Using an old one, even something like "Mary Had a Little Lamb," is just fine. It's perfectly scriptural: "teaching and admonishing yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." I knew a woman who memorized scores of passages just by singing them. What's wrong with that? If anyone laughs at you, just ask them how many passages they know by memory!
Then there are mnemonic devices. I had a terrible time remembering which prophets spoke to Israel and which to Judah. Finally I wrote them down and there it was—only two to Israel, Hosea and Amos. "HA!" I said to myself, and ever since then I have remembered it. H for Hosea and A for Amos—HA! It can be just that silly. I even shared it with my classes and now they can remember it too. When they do forget, I just look at them and say, "HA!" and instantly the two names are practically shouted across the classroom, usually with a laugh.
Then there are the spelling similarities. Ever since I was a child and learned the story of the divided kingdom, I instantly noticed the names of the first king of each nation: Jeroboam and Rehoboam. Out of 8 letters, 6 are the same. So which was king in which kingdom? In this case you remember a negative: Jeroboam (which begins with a J) was NOT the king of Judah (which also begins with a J). Maybe I was a lazy child, but I did that from the beginning as soon as I saw those two names and have never had trouble since.
The alphabet is common in many of my devices. How about Leah and Rachel? Whose handmaid was Bilhah and whose was Zilpah? I just sat down one day and looked at the names and the letters they started with. If you put the sisters in alphabetical order (L and R) and the handmaids in reverse alphabetical order (Z and B), you've got it. Leah's handmaid was Zilpah and Rachel's was Bilhah.
Maybe because I have studied them for so long, I don't really have any trouble matching husbands and wives in the Bible, but I have noticed that a lot of folks do. I've heard people marry off Rebekah to Abraham more times than I have fingers and toes. If you are one of those folks, here is the perfect opportunity for you to try this out for yourself. First get your Bible and write down the husbands and wives, matching them up correctly (that's why you got your Bible). Look at the names. Look at the letters the names begin with. Look at other facts about the couple. Find something that makes sense to you and then spend a little time working on it. The devices themselves must be easier to remember than the thing you are trying to remember or it defeats the purpose, but if you work for a little while now, it will save you hours of having to look up the basic facts, and you can then spend your study time on the depths of the Word.
And don't worry if anyone laughs at you.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. (Ps 119:15)
Dene Ward
The issue here is one we all have, and have more and more as we age—remembering what we learned. At the risk of having people laugh at me, I am going to tell you some of the things I do to overcome this problem. I do not expect you to follow the same procedures as I, but to be emboldened to find your own memory crutches, the things that make sense to your mind and that work for you. Mine may not do that. We all seem to learn in different ways, so pay attention to your own particular abilities and use them to the best.
First, there is absolutely nothing wrong with making up little songs to help memorize scriptures or lists in scriptures. You did it as a child when you learned the apostles, the sons of Jacob, and the books of the Bible. The list does not have to rhyme and you do not have to come up with a new tune. Using an old one, even something like "Mary Had a Little Lamb," is just fine. It's perfectly scriptural: "teaching and admonishing yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." I knew a woman who memorized scores of passages just by singing them. What's wrong with that? If anyone laughs at you, just ask them how many passages they know by memory!
Then there are mnemonic devices. I had a terrible time remembering which prophets spoke to Israel and which to Judah. Finally I wrote them down and there it was—only two to Israel, Hosea and Amos. "HA!" I said to myself, and ever since then I have remembered it. H for Hosea and A for Amos—HA! It can be just that silly. I even shared it with my classes and now they can remember it too. When they do forget, I just look at them and say, "HA!" and instantly the two names are practically shouted across the classroom, usually with a laugh.
Then there are the spelling similarities. Ever since I was a child and learned the story of the divided kingdom, I instantly noticed the names of the first king of each nation: Jeroboam and Rehoboam. Out of 8 letters, 6 are the same. So which was king in which kingdom? In this case you remember a negative: Jeroboam (which begins with a J) was NOT the king of Judah (which also begins with a J). Maybe I was a lazy child, but I did that from the beginning as soon as I saw those two names and have never had trouble since.
The alphabet is common in many of my devices. How about Leah and Rachel? Whose handmaid was Bilhah and whose was Zilpah? I just sat down one day and looked at the names and the letters they started with. If you put the sisters in alphabetical order (L and R) and the handmaids in reverse alphabetical order (Z and B), you've got it. Leah's handmaid was Zilpah and Rachel's was Bilhah.
Maybe because I have studied them for so long, I don't really have any trouble matching husbands and wives in the Bible, but I have noticed that a lot of folks do. I've heard people marry off Rebekah to Abraham more times than I have fingers and toes. If you are one of those folks, here is the perfect opportunity for you to try this out for yourself. First get your Bible and write down the husbands and wives, matching them up correctly (that's why you got your Bible). Look at the names. Look at the letters the names begin with. Look at other facts about the couple. Find something that makes sense to you and then spend a little time working on it. The devices themselves must be easier to remember than the thing you are trying to remember or it defeats the purpose, but if you work for a little while now, it will save you hours of having to look up the basic facts, and you can then spend your study time on the depths of the Word.
And don't worry if anyone laughs at you.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. (Ps 119:15)
Dene Ward
RSS Feed