Psalm 119 is one of the best-known and most-beloved passages of Holy Scripture. “The more one studies it, the fresher it becomes”, said Charles Spurgeon, “As those who drink the Nile water like it better every time they take a draught, so does this Psalm become the more full and fascinating the oftener you turn to it.” William Wilberforce would recite it from memory on his walks back to Hyde Park from Parliament. It is literally and figuratively at the center of our Bible, and is devoted entirely to the expression of love, praise and devotion to God’s word. Yet when it comes to memorizing it, many of us today are intimidated by its size.

 Memo Devo: Psalm 119 is designed to help address this. It’s part of Five Talents Audio’s ongoing mission to activate more of God’s Word in our daily lives by making Scripture memorization more accessible and feasible for us all.

 This book breaks down the Psalm into a year-long daily devotional format, and includes memorization tips, techniques, mnemonics and commentary. There’s even a 52-week timeline included at the end to help you get started and stay on track (or get back on track).

 The reader is encouraged to temporarily replace their existing daily devotional with Memo Devo, and then examine not only the success of their memorization, but also the difference within their own hearts when it comes to their intimacy with God (John 15:7-8), their witness for God (2Timothy 2:15), and the protection they experience under God (Psalm 119:11).

Introduction (by Steve Cook)

In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice.” Four chapters later, He says, “If you love Me, keep My commands.” (John 14:15) Three chapters after that, He says, “Sanctify them in the Truth. Your Word is Truth.” (John 17:17)

Obviously, the Word is at the center my relationship with Christ. If I don’t know it, I can’t know Jesus. And if I don’t know Jesus, I can’t love Him. In fact, sometimes the Bible even uses the Greek word for ‘know’ (γινώσκω - ginósko) when speaking about the love of God (1Corinthians 13:12, Romans 8:29, 1John 2:3).

It’s like me buying or doing something for my wife without considering her love language beforehand. It’s nice that I love her and I am trying to express it, but it is so much more pleasing to her and more impactful on our relationship if I take the time (and make the effort) to know how she wants to be loved first. The Bible is God’s Love Language. It is where He instructs us on how He wants to be loved.

 But do I? (know God’s Love Language, that is.)

The purpose of this book, indeed the entire Memo Devo series, is to help us know and treasure more Scripture in our hearts so that we can experience better intimacy with God, a better witness for God and better protection under the wings of God, all while using time and resources we already possess.

 As believers, most of us share at least one thing in common: we’d all love to have a little more time in the day. Whether it be for Bible study, family time, fixing the furnace, date nights, serving the community, whatever, the last thing any of us want is a new task added to our schedule, right?

Memo Devo adds no new tasks to my daily schedule. It merely incorporates memorization time into my already existing quiet time. It replaces my normal daily devotional with a memorization devotional. While it doesn’t completely depart from typical daily devotionals in its format (there are frequent meditations and commentaries throughout), it otherwise concentrates solely on how to memorize that day’s verse, using unique mnemonics, keywords and something I like to call the “Tide Technique”. The rest is up to the Holy Spirit.

 I believe this process more closely mirrors what Bible study must have been like in the 1st Century, when Scripture was meant to be heard and seen, as much as read, because so many of those who received it were illiterate (especially new Gentile believers). They had to memorize it and speak it back to each other often in order to facilitate meditation. Yet, the result was anything but stunting to their life and growth in Christ. On the contrary, we long for the vibrancy and zeal of those early church days, don't we?

 In this devotional, Psalm 119 is broken down into 44 weeks of daily devotions. There are 2 weeks for each of the 8-verse alphabetical acrostic sections of the Psalm, and eight “High Tide” weeks devoted to incorporating everything I’ve memorized up to that point.

 For the High Tide weeks, I have found it most effective to tide back either 4 or 8 verses at a time to the beginning. For example, at the Week 42 High Tide, I would begin by reciting all of the “Tzaddi” section I have just learned the previous week. Then, I would tide back over either the second half or all of the “Pe” section. Then, I would add “Ain” the same way, then “Samech”, and so on, until I reached the beginning and could recite all of the first 144 verses of the Psalm out loud (preferably to someone else). Please refer to Figure 2 at the end of this book for a complete 52-week timeline.

 I’ll be honest. This is one of the hardest passages I have ever tried to memorize. I think it’s mostly because so many of the sections have such similar language and can easily get conflated. For this reason, I have given each section its own 2-word “title”, by taking one word from the first four verses of the section and one from the last four.

 For example: My title of the first section of the Psalm, “Aleph”, is “Upright Utterly”. ‘Upright’ is taken from verse 1 and ‘Utterly’ from verse 8. It’s not meant to be a mnemonic for the verse, just an organizer, helping prevent the mixing of different parts of other verses and sections which may sound similar. Another example is my title for the section based on the letter “Vau”: “Kindness Kings”. Yes, almost all the titles are alliterations, with the 2 exceptions being the “Daleth” section (“Cling Ways”) and the “Pe” section, (“Show Light”).

 In addition to the section titles, I’ve also made a mnemonic sentence for the entire Psalm. This is tremendously helpful in generally recalling and organizing the Psalm, especially after being away from it for a while. It goes like this:

“A big German dog had veggies zinging cuz the jumpy critter lept mischievously near some artichoke patches, then knelt rather sloppily thereafter.”

 The bolded letters correspond to the 22 acrostic headings of the Psalm:

Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Vau, Zain, Cheth, Teth, Jod, Caph, Lamed, Mem, Nun, Samech, Ain, Pe, Tzaddi, Koph, Resh, Schin, Tau

One final caveat: try not to skip the final step of actually SPEAKING BACK each week’s section to someone else. This is sooo important and one of the real difference-makers in this process (see Figure 1 at the end of the book). It provides not only an accountability element, but also opportunities for the Spirit to sanctify others in the Truth. It is similar to Charlotte Mason's “narration” philosophy. The one major difference to me is that the Bible, unlike any other 'living' book, was written by God and therefore having its specific words literally abide in me is very important because they have the unique power of sanctification (John 17:17). If no one else is around, another way to check if something is getting into my long-term memory is to speak the verse back out loud to myself while juggling, folding laundry or doing some other simple task that creates a mild distraction for my brain.

 Work hard. Have fun. Pray.
With the Spirit's help, you CAN do this!

 Steve Cook