#184 The Value of Memorizing Scripture
It is easy to say that I'm not good at memorizing things and therefore do not need to memorize the Bible. In fact, all Christians, regardless of age or ability, ought to memorize as much of the Bible as they can. God's Word is alive in us today. The words in the Bible are not written to you they are written for you. I have tried to memorize as much of the Bible as I can, but I constantly find myself forgetting what I have learned. This doesn't speak to the fact that I am bad at memorizing things, or that I don't need to memorize because I'm not any good at it, but rather it points out just how vital it is to memorize Scripture. If you cannot memorize a verse of Scripture, how can you truly know it? You can write about it, think about it, or perhaps absorb the idea, but you cannot truly know a thing unless you are able to clearly communicate its ideas in the same way that it would. There are many reasons to memorize Scripture, which I will lay out ahead.
John 14:26 says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” When we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit is working in us to teach us the meaning of the words. Then later, when God needs us to speak, the Holy Spirit may remind us of what we have learned in the Bible. Yet it is my belief although I may be wrong that the Holy Spirit causes to mind the verses of the Bible which we have learned, not the ones we do not know. Therefore, we are only as useful to God as mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit as we are read and studied. It is a true joy to have God guide your mind when you read the Bible, to make connections between the Old and New Testaments, and to see what God is getting at. And even more so, it is a joy to be speaking to someone and have the Holy Spirit prompt your memory toward the words you have read and studied. But how afraid, how shocking, must it be to not be prepared on the day that God places an unbeliever in front of you who has questions about the Bible? God calls upon us to be prepared at all times to give an account for the things we believe.
A simple analogy makes this clear. I am married, but imagine someone asked me, “Who are you married to?” and I wasn't able to say her name, where she comes from, what she's like, her interests, why I like her, or what brought us together. Now, what sort of marriage would that be? That is what it is like when we cannot communicate the message of God's Word to another. If you cannot communicate God’s Word to another person, are you even one of His people?
Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” We are all sinners, and this is something we cannot change in this life. We will be made perfect in heaven, but until then, we are sinners. Yet as the psalmist writes, when we memorize Scripture, we are less likely to sin.
As a final point, let's examine Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” In order for the Word of God to dwell in us, it must be memorized. This is a direct command of Scripture that Paul exhorts to us. The value of memorizing Scripture is clear: we will be more like God, we will sin less, and we will have answers to give when the time comes. The time spent memorizing Scripture will not return void, but God will use it to richly bless you. I dare you to memorize some portion of Scripture for the glory of God.
