The Book of Eli.
Eli and the story of his book turned into an unexpected life shift for me. I won’t give the plot twist away beyond saying that his book is the Bible, the LAST Bible on earth.
In the flow of the story we learn that Eli has traveled for “30 winters since the flash” reading his book everyday.
Then the perfect-movie-British-bad-guy (who pulls off a convincing American tonality) Gary Oldman encounters Eli and the book and spends himself out to possess the book.
It’s a violent, dark themed film centered around the preciousness of the one, surviving Bible.
It’s really quite Un-Hollywood.
The believer is the hero.
He’s unique, but not crazy.
Again, it’s REALLY Un-Hollywood-like.
But no more on that so as to protect the storyline for those yet to see the film.
Netflix it.
It was this specific movie that triggered something in me over a decade ago. Throughout the film Denzel as Eli regularly quotes Scripture. The triggered insight was this: if I had 30 years to 1) read the Word everyday and 2) protect it, how much of it would I retain in my memory? Then my thought process continued to: “wait! I do have time to 1) read the Word everyday and 2) protect it. I should start actively memorizing Scripture!”
I had a well worn New International Version (NIV) Bible as my regular-use Bible. I had no memory technique instructor other than the Spirit to lead. It just felt right to start with maybe the most beloved portion of the Psalter: Psalm 23. It’s 6 short verses were familiar and in a week’s time, I had it locked in my hippocampus.
Another iconic section of the Holy Writ is nicknamed the “Love chapter”. Though I was familiar with I Corinthians 13, its list structure (and twists of those lists) made perfect memory retention a bit more difficult. But after a couple of weeks of 10 minute daily work, I had it nailed down. By repeating one verse out loud over and over and over, I eventually retained it.
Another Psalm, the 46th, drew me in next. I need to remind myself daily that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear...” Because I’ve committed that Psalm to memory, I both regularly remind myself of the truth and use it when I’m asked to lead a devotional moment. When delivered with passion, inflection and good rate-pace-tone, it comes alive to the listeners.
So then a decade ago, post-Eli-realization, I decided to embark on a much bigger mountain of a project—memorizing a whole book of the Bible.
Hebrews had always fascinated me.
I wasn’t sure what would come of it, but I decided to memorize verse 1 of chapter 1. Then after about 2 months I had all of chapter 1 retained. So naturally I went to chapter 2. And on and on for a decade. There were some moments of setting it down weeks at a time, to then dust it off and restart the work. Ten years later, all 13 chapters are memorized.
I still review it all at least once a week to retain it.
But it’s done.
Now let me stop the “atta-boys” some might be inclined to slide my way; I didn’t do this for recognition but for my soul’s betterment. I am, indeed, better for having invested the time and mental exhaustion in to infusing words of Life into me.
There’s a section in chapter 11, the well-known “Hall of Faith” chapter, that chokes me up nearly every-time I recite it. After listing specific Old Testament luminaries and their stories, it goes into a generalized list of what many saints did by faith. Verse 35 starts off with “Women received back their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection.”
Lord, help my unbelief...Refusing to be released from torture for the sake of Christ and resurrection quality?!
Really?!
That is a whole deeper level of faith than I seem to live with daily.
You, too?
To these saints it was all about THAT DAY, the day of Christ’s return and our ultimate, eternal union with Him. The regular, recurring planting of this verse before my consciousness every week is good, right and true.
Back to the cinematic impetus: Eli was walking, carrying, reading, defending all because he heard a voice...as the storyline goes. He kept the Word before him at all times and let it defend and guide him. The Psalmist called it a “lamp for my feet” and told us “to hide it in our hearts”. Even Eli’s antagonist, Oldman’s character Carnegie, knew the words in the book had power, supernatural, inexplicable power.
What if we, who say we believe it all, invested ourselves in memorizing it. Today printed copies abound in the Western world with umpteen apps to read it to us, translate it for us, even pictorialize it to social media. The sober truth for Eastern believers already that may find us in the West one day is this: we may find ourselves needing to draw the words up from memory as our only option.
Start memorizing for your own spiritual health.
Start with some portion that soothes your soul and reminds you of the goodness of God.
You have the time now.
Use it.
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