The Great Power of Little Words

When we memorize a new text of Scripture we dwell deeply within its words. It’s easy to delight in such beautiful pieces as, “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” (1 John 2:1) The whole chapter this bit comes from is simply stuffed with glorious ideas for us to dwell in. Our desire to dwell in the richest phrases can sometimes present a problem when we are preparing to recite a passage to others. We may find ourselves glossing over the “little words” in favor of these big, impactful pieces. Words like conjunctions (words that connect one part of a sentence to another) or prepositions (words that give context to other words in the sentence) may not seem as exciting as the ‘big’ phrases, but they are often the ones that need the most emphasis when a passage is recited.

The little words help us understand how the big phrases connect. After memorizing the passage, we’ve spent hours meditating on its meaning and structure and we might take these little words for granted for our audience, but the audience is only hearing this once. We can’t afford to zip past the little words when speaking the Scriptures!

We can decide which little words to emphasize by wrestling with the text. You can orally practice a verse over and over and emphasize different words each time to see what feels like the best fit for the surrounding context. You can ask yourself questions about the text, like, “What is the author feeling?” “What is the author’s intention?” “What response is he trying to get from the audience?” You can also print out the passage and mark it up with notes on the structure of each sentence. What is the subject? What is the verb? Dust off your grammar books or use grammarly.com for help. See if there is a contrast being made in the verse, where you might want to emphasize the specific word being contrasted with the other, or you might need to emphasize the conjunction in the middle even more. You can also look up the text in some strong commentaries or listen to some expository preaching on the verses you’re wrestling with. Ask yourself, “What is important for someone to hear in this verse for them to understand the next verses?”

Here is an example from my own recitation ministry of what can result from wrestling with the little words:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqeyUzGWoDQ&w=560&h=315\]

Not every word can be emphasized while you recite. If you were to emphasize. every. word. dramatically. it. would. get. tiring. and. confusing. to. listen. to. But sometimes the little words provide the structure we need to understand what the big words and phrases are there for. It reminds me of what someone once said, “Always look for the ‘buts’ in Scripture.” That’s a funny phrase to say out loud! His point was that a lot of verses have beautiful contrasts in them: “The wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) One of the ways to look for these contrasts is to look for the “buts,” which are an example of the little words we need to pay attention to. A lot of these verses should be recited with the “but” made more obvious for the audience to hear.

The more you take care to wrestle with the text and include the little words in your wrestling, the more your audience will be richly blessed by your recitation.

May God be glorified as you serve Him by sharing recited Scripture with others!

God bless,

Rachel Eernisse, Scripture Speaker.

P.S. I have more tips for recitation, and Scripture memory, in my book: “Speaking Scripture.”