🔴 Does Anyone Have a Marker I May Borrow? [Newsletter #354 PeterWade.com]

Bible Marking

by D.L. Moody

An old writer said that some books are to be tasted, some to be swallowed, some to be chewed and digested. The Bible is one that you can never finish with. It is like a bottomless well; you can always find fresh truth gushing forth from its pages.

“No Scripture,” said Spurgeon, “is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God’s garden bloom not only double, but sevenfold; they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.” Hence the great fascination of constant and earnest Bible study. I thank God there is a height in the Book that I have never been able to reach, a depth that I have never been able to fathom.

Unless you have an uncommon memory, you cannot retain the good things you hear. If you trust to your ear alone, they will escape you in a day or two; but, if you mark your Bible, and enlist the aid of your eye, you will never lose them. The same applies to things you read.

Everyone ought to study the Bible with two ends in view: his own growth in knowledge and grace, and passing it on to others. We ought to have four ears — two for ourselves, and two for other people. My Bible is worth a good deal to me because I have so many passages marked that, if I am called upon to speak at any time, I am ready. We ought to be prepared to pass around heavenly thoughts and truths, just as we do the coin of the realm.

Bible-marking should be made the servant of memory; a few words will recall a whole sermon. It sharpens the memory, instead of blunting it, if properly done, because it gives prominence to certain things that catch the eye, which by constant reading you get to learn by heart. It helps you to locate texts. It saves preachers and class-leaders the trouble of writing out notes of their addresses. Once in the margin, always ready.

Never mark anything because you saw it in the Bible of someone else. If it does not come home to you, if you do not understand it, do not put it down.

Never pass a nugget without trying to grasp it. Then mark it down.

of BIBLE MARKING by D.L. Moody

As you are reading your Bible or listening to a teaching, you might discover something that really catches your attention. This is the Spirit of God pointing to something He wants you to understand. ”No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (I Corinthians 2: 11b-12 ESV).

Now be honest, will you remember what it was that caught your attention a day later? Will you remember where in the Word it was? D.L. Moody wrote, “Unless you have an uncommon memory, you cannot retain the good things you hear."

So let’s talk about Bible marking. Today in many churches the scripture texts are placed on a screen, giving the impression that you don’t need a Bible; “Come just as you are!” As a young Christian, I saw many fellow believers write in their Bibles. In 2004 I was privileged to inspect the KJV Bible used by E.W. Kenyon, and it was well marked.

Moody wisely wrote, “Do not buy a Bible that you are unwilling to mark and use.” My own KJV Bible that I’ve used for over 50 years is marked, particularly in books like Ephesians where the pages are grubby and ready to fall out. I have a new identical Bible sitting on my shelf with real leather binding, but I can’t face the task of transferring all my notes! As Charles Spurgeon said, “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t!”