Today we're going to start memorizing Psalms. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "the whole book of Psalms? That's a little crazy and extreme, isn't it?" I have the answer for you. No, it's not extreme or crazy at all. Yahweh wants us to memorize and meditate upon his word and help others to come to know him. Usually, when we talk to other people about God, we tell them bible verses. But what if some one needed you help and you didn't have a good verse memorized to tell them? What would you do?

You wouldn't have any verses to tell them. You might decide to go home and start memorizing. Believe me, I know what it's like to not have a verse to give some one. Any way, I'll post the section of  Psalms you're supposed to memorize as often as I possibly can (which is quite often) so that you can always have something to be working on. There will also be readings. One day we might read a chapter or two out of the five books of Moses, or out of the books of the Prophets, or about the King's of Israel and Judah.

But before get knee deep in readings and bible memorization, let's have a look into the Old Testament's history.

"Old Testament" in Hebrew is "Tanak", which is all of the books of the Old Testament. The Tanak is divided into three sections. The Torah- Teachings; Nebi'im- Prophets; Kethubim- Writings. I'll go over these with you carefully to be sure that you understand. 

The word Torah is Hebrew for 'law' or 'teaching'. The Torah consists of five books, the 'Five books of Moses,' and was given to the Israelite's as they were leaving Egypt. The only one that happened before the time of Moses was the very first one, Genesis. The books in the Torah are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These are the set of laws that Yahweh commands us to live by.

The Nebi'im has twenty two books in it. These are all of Prophet's, Judges, and King's writings. 

The Kethubim has twelve books in it, and has a mix of King's writings, prophets, and poets such as King David of Judah. 

Now that we understand the basis of the Tanak, we can start our memorization.  We're going to first learn the first three verses of Psalm one. Here they are in the blue print below.

Psalm 1:1-3: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. 2 But his delight is in the Torah of Yahweh, and on his Torah he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree planted firmly by streams of water, which yeilds it's fruit in it's season. And his leaf does not wither and in everything he does, he prospers. 

Exciting! 

The first three verses! And as soon as possible, I'll post the last three verses, and then you'll have the first chapter of Psalm's memorized! That's going to be cool! Then you'll only have 149 chapters to go!  

Now for the reading, we're going to start in Genesis one and read five verses. Here they are typed out in blue below.

Genesis 1:1-5: In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. 
2 And the earth came to be formless and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of Elohim was moving on the face of the waters. 
3 And Elohim said, "Let light come to be," and light came to be. 
4 And Elohim saw the light, that it was good. And Elohim separated the light from the darkness. 5 And Elohim called the light 'day', and the darkness he called 'night.' And there came to evening and there came to be morning, one day.  

That is such a powerful passage of scripture! I mean, the whole bible is so powerful, but the first five verses alone sum the whole point of the bible up. God is powerful; he just proved it  in the first five verses of Chapter one. What more do we need than that to believe that he is El Shaddai, the almighty God of everything? One thing I know for certain; I don't need anymore than the first verses in Chapter one to believe that God is real.


Thank you for reading today's post. How did you memorize your scripture? And how do you think that the first five verses of the bible can impact some body's life? Please comment and tell us about it!