Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Saturday, September 5, Psalm 112:9

"He has DISTRIBUTED freely; he has given to the poor; his RIGHTEOUSNESS endures forever; his horn is exalted in HONOR."

Three of the acrostic mnemonics are in this penultimate verse (see Memory Helps). Again, we see that one of the signs of a righteous man is his generosity. He gives to glorify God. He does not hold the gifts given to him by God tightly, because he knows that he is the steward, not the owner.

You've heard me mention a number of times that the "Judgment Seat of Christ" we find in 1 Corinthians can be thought of somewhat like a "graduation ceremony". In this mortal life we are being trained to rule. We go through the "school of suffering" as we learn to distinguish good from evil. It also teaches us to firm up our hearts and put our trust in the Lord in every circumstance.

In this process we have works of wood, hay, and stubble, which will burn away, and gold, silver and precious stones, that will endure forever. In the end that is all that we will contain as the Lord "glorifies" us. So, at "graduation time", we lose the mortal body and receive a "spiritual body", which is not to be confused with an ethereal spirit floating around, but, like Jesus, it will be the body that was originally intended, a forever body that makes us complete. And then life really begins!

And we are already citizens of heaven, assured and secure in His promise, sealed by the Holy Spirit who is our guarantee, about which we can read in Ephesians 1-2. Here, we citizens look at Philippians 3:20-21: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself".

The last part of our memory verse referring to, "His horn is exalted in honor", may sound a little strange to some. It is a symbolic reference to the horn of an ox or bull, a symbol of strength. The perseverance of the saints is rewarded in the end, and that consists of our faithfulness in the Rock during the trials of this life.

So in this final passage of blessings for those who put their trust in God, we find the eternal perspective again. The understanding that goes all the way back to Genesis, where man was given the right to rule, made in God's image, and it will surely come to pass, this time through the Last Adam.

And contrary to what many might think, the primary purpose of salvation is not about you. He is calling a people to Himself, who will first reign with Him 1000 years as all the promises to Israel are fulfilled, and then lay the kingdom before the feet of His Father. Then the Godhead will rule from New Jerusalem forever.

So, we need not fear death. As a matter of fact, those who are born again have already died to this world and live as heavenly beings. I'll close with one of my most often used and beloved passages, Colossians 3:1-4:

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

Memory Helps

"He has DISTRIBUTED freely (Pe, pizzar, he has dispersed);
he has given to the poor;
his RIGHTEOUSNESS (tsade, tsidqato) endures forever;
his horn is exalted IN HONOR (qof, qarno)."

This one has been broken into four short lines beginning with "He" words, so we can start by memorizing them and pushing forward on each line. "He has distributed/He has given/ His righteousness/His horn".

I also noticed an "initials palindrome" in the last line after the word "his": "HIEIH: Horn Is EXALTED In Honor".

With these "helps" in mind, learning this verse should be quite simple if you take the ten minutes needed to concentrate.

Linking verse numbers:

I'm linking again my Giant harp-playing and singing (to remember Psalms) Tennessee "Titan" football player (T-T-N=112 vowels fillers), which helps me know that this is Psalm 112.

This time I need a "memory character" that can only mean verse 9, where the sounds "P and b" are given to represent 9 in our phonetic alphabet. It is easy to remember because if you turn a "P" around it looks like a "9", and if you flip a small "b" up it also looks like a 9, which is why I put the small b down instead of the capital B. We then save the vowels for fillers to make words that can only represent the number we desire.

I use the "Boy" we call "Big Boy", the restaurant icon. If you are not familiar with him, google him or think of another "Boy" you can use that you know well. I always use him for verses 9 so I can "pin" him to every verse 9 I memorize. In the memory book by Harry Lorayne, he has a series of "peg" words, words used over and over for specific things that you can "take off the peg" and "re-use". That's what I do with verse numbers, but modify it into action figures, so I can always have action in my word pictures.

Now I link it to my "singing Titan" to create Psalm 112:9, and add it to a memory picture that contains some of the verse contents in order to "spark" my memory. This verse has a very visual start, and we can have Big Boy and our singing Titan distributing freely to the poor.

I use word pictures also to remember "righteousness" and "horn" by having them give one of the poor who happen to be a "nest writing" (for write-nest, righteous-ness) a fancy "horn", maybe a trumpet or something like it to help me remember the last two lines. Might sound a bit strange to you, but it really does distinguish this verse from all others, and make Psalm 112:9 unique.