Without looking

There are many things we can do without looking. For instance, I could not be accurate at target practice if I didn't have my eyes open. In fact, that could be dangerous. I couldn't dust, wash dishes, or do laundry without looking. All of those could have costly results.

However, one of the things I can do best without looking is type. There are times that I can read a script and re-type it without looking at the keys. I know the keys so well that my eyes seldom leave the script. I can type emails, letters, poems, documents and never look at the keys. I have been typing since I was sixteen years old and the "asdf/jkl;" are ingrained in my brain. I can see them in my mind and know all the other letters that surround those core keys. That is not to say that I don't ever make a mistake.

What it does mean is that I know the keys so well that I immediately know when I make a mistake. It just "doesn't feel right." Coincidently, as I type, I am looking at my dogs on my bed. No script, no looking at the keys, just typing as I watch them play.

That is how well I long to know the Word of God. I need to know it so well that when someone needs a prayer or a word, I can immediately go to it in my head because it is in my heart. No looking, just knowing! There are scriptures on healing, power, love, salvation, and while I do not know each reference, I bask in the opportunity to learn it.

Knowing where each key is did not happen overnight. It took years of practice. Years of typing, multi-tasking, and practice. I carried on many conversations making eye contact with an individual all the while typing a report or document. Simply knowing where all the keys are located is not enough. I have to put them together in order to make sense of what I am typing.

Learning God's Word does not "just happen." One must spend time in it. Often I go back to scripture I have read before and said "Oh Yeah, I remember that." I have my own sense of how to learn God's Word. The first step is I must be in it! I can visualize where on the page it is, left side or right side, I can visualize columns, and then I can visualize the scripture, but it takes time.

One day, I want to know God's Word so well that I can go to any scripture...without looking.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I may not sin against you.
Psalms 119:9-11