“And thou shalt bind [God’s words] for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8).
When I was in Jerusalem a few months ago, I saw Jews who had little black boxes bound to their foreheads. These boxes had pages of Scripture inside. The Jews had similar boxes fastened to their hands by straps that circled around their arms. God’s Word was literally bound on their hands and between their eyes!
In Deuteronomy 6, is God really commanding that pages of the Bible be strapped to our hands and foreheads? Is that what God wants us to do?
Actually, in that passage God was reminding the Israelites of how important it was that they constantly keep His words in their minds. God wanted His people to think about His words all the time so that they would remember to obey Him. He asked the Israelites to talk about His words while at home and while in the streets. He wanted His people to remember His words when going to bed at night and when getting up in the morning. He commanded His people to remind themselves and others about what He had done and about what He expected them to do.
When God said His words should be bound to the heads and hands of His people, He was trying to give His people a picture of how they should be thinking about and obeying His words all the time.
God wants us to memorize His Word, think about it, and obey it so much that it becomes an inseparable part of us. He wants us to keep loving it and trying to understand it more. My pastor sometimes says, “The Bible should be the default setting in your brain. God’s Word should be what your thoughts come back to whenever you don’t have to be thinking about something else.”
God desires that we always keep His Word in our minds and hearts.
My Response:
» Do I ever memorize verses so that I can think of God’s Word at all different times and in all different places? What does Psalm 119:11 tell me about why I should memorize God’s Word?
» Have I asked God to help me remember to think about Him (His words) when I am playing and working?