The Hand Illustration? Bob, didn’t we just have that before Labor Day? Two of them, in fact? Yes and no. Those were “Prayer” hands. THE Navigator Hand Illustration is about the Word:

Let me walk you through it. There are five ways to intake God’s Word, and we should use all five. Note that the picture shows a hand holding the Bible. If we want a firm grip on the literal book, we would do well to use all five fingers, especially the thumb which provides the grip. The thumb represents meditate (Psalm 1.2, 3), which should be used in conjunction with all the other methods.:

• Hear, represented by the little finger. (Romans 10.17) It’s the smallest and weakest method. We just don’t remember much of what we hear. But, as I told the folks Sunday, if you’re going to be at church anyway, you might as well pay attention to the sermon! That’s why I take notes, not necessarily because I’ll look at them again, but taking notes helps me pay attention.
• Read, represented by the fourth finger. (Revelation 1.3) Reading is the discipline we’re pushing when we’re talking about Daily Time with God or the 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Plan. It’s been said that if we remember 5% of what we hear, we remember 15% of what we read. Again, we want to meditate on we read and hear!
• Study, represented by the middle, strongest finger. (Acts 17.11) Bible study is spending more time on a shorter portion, say a chapter or part of a chapter. Some estimate that we might remember 35% of what we study. But don’t forget to meditate for application!

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. (Matthew 7.26, 27, MSG)

• Memorize, represented by “tip of the tongue” first finger. (Psalm 119.9 – 11) It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), we remember 100% of what we memorize! And the purpose of scripture memory is have it in our minds so we can meditate “day and night.” I wrote about scripture memory back in 2019 capturing Max Barnett’s methods and this motivation:

Whenever I’m around the old Navigators, like Max, they all say the same thing when asked something like, “Why are you still following Jesus and making disciples in your old age?” They always say, “Quiet time and scripture memory.” In my book Live the Adventure, I tell about Navigators Skip and Buzzie Gray, now in their late 80s, and Jerry White, now in his late 70s saying that very thing. Well-known author Dallas Willard wrote that if he were limited to one discipline, it would be scripture memory. [Skip Gray and Dallas Willard are now with the Lord.]

There it is, The Hand Illustration. It takes just a few minutes to learn and teach, and it’s worth putting into practice.

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, NKJV)

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4.4, NKJV)