When my father was 88, an interviewer asked him about his greatest regret. Looking back over a lifetime of evangelistic ministry, he said he wished he had spent more time memorizing Scripture.
When I was growing up, my mother and father always tried to whet my appetite for Scripture. On Sundays after church, my mother insisted that we children memorize a verse before we could go outside and play. She let us choose Bible verses to recite from memory, so I flipped through my Bible, scanning for short verses like “Jesus wept.” I thought I was outsmarting her, but she knew what she was doing—making me search through the Scriptures. She was a wonderful teacher who wanted her children to know God’s Word by heart.
When Jane and I were newlyweds, we both realized we needed to know more of the Bible. We loaded up my Jeep and a U-Haul trailer and headed to Colorado, where we spent time with the Navigators in Colorado Springs and enrolled in a Bible school called Ravencrest, in Estes Park. I wasn’t the best of students, but both of us soaked up God’s Word like a sponge.
The founder of the Navigators, Dawson Trotman, came to saving faith in Jesus Christ through a verse he memorized for a church contest, John 5:24. Can you recite that one? “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
What’s the first Bible verse you ever memorized? Many will say John 3:16, or the Lord’s Prayer, or Psalm 23. In my father’s later years, he would recite that psalm whenever he stirred from sleep: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. … Surely goodness and mercyshall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:1, 6).
It’s easy to make excuses for not memorizing Scripture. The Bible can be intimidating. But I know some strong believers whose daily devotions include reading five psalms and a proverb, so that they repeat those books every month. Before long, they know those books almost by heart, possessing a treasury of Biblical strength and wisdom.
The Lord promises in Jeremiah 31:33 to write His law on our hearts. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Psalm 119:11 is a verse I think everyone should memorize. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
The 119th Psalm, the longest chapter in the Bible, has much to say about the power and authority of God’s Word to help us resist sinful temptations. When Scripture fills our hearts and minds, the Bible promises to fill us with godly wisdom and discernment.
When Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights in the wilderness, Satan tried to tempt the Son of God on three occasions. And each time, our Lord responded, “It is written …” before quoting Scripture such as: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (see Matthew 4:4-10).
After Jesus used Scripture to rebuke Satan a third time, the Bible says that the devil fled. Since our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ recited Scripture from memory to foil the devil, we would do well to follow His example of Scripture memorization to war against Satan’s deceitful schemes. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is the main weapon in the believer’s arsenal to defeat Satan (see Ephesians 6:17).
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
When I preach—and I will be in Argentina and Cambodia in the coming months—I preach straight from God’s Word to help people understand how we are sinners in need of salvation.
Where does my assurance come from? “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
To God be the glory! Great things He has done and continues to do.
