Psalms 119:11.” I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you “.
Scripture memorization is a spiritual discipline, whereby one gets to memorize God’s word. This is one of the sectors in my spiritual life that I can say I am lagging behind. I have been purposing since the year began to start memorizing portions of scripture ,but several months down the line, here I am ,with no progress whatsoever.
I however read a story of a lady called Esther, which reignited my efforts at being intentional towards scripture memorization.
Esther Ahn Kim was born in Korea. She was born at a time when Korea was under the rule of Japanese. And among the things that Koreans were subjected to then, was mandatory participation at the Shinto shrines, to specifically bow to Amaterasu Omikami( the sun goddess).
But thanks to Esther’s mom who was a staunch Christian, Esther knew idols were powerless from an early age, and that the only person to be worshipped was God.
So on this day, in 1939, Esther, a music teacher at a Christian girls school in Pyongyang, goes to the shrine at Namsan Mountain, as per the requirement. Having resolved to do what Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego did, she chose to remain erect when everyone in the enormous crowd gave their profound bow to Amaterasu Omikami.
The shrine was closely watched by police, and she was easily spotted as the defiant one. No one arrested her there, but when she got to the classroom , four detectives were waiting for her, who then took her to the chief of the district. However, before he could deal with her, he received a phone call, and hurried away. Esther then took that opportunity to flee. Reaching home, her mom disguised her in dirt and old clothes, and she took the first train leaving the station.
She ended up in Shin Ei Joo, where she stayed with a former student for a few days, before traveling to her sister’s place in Jung Loo, where she met her mother there. While in there, they found a deserted and isolated small house, which they moved in to.
Because they were isolated,she could now sing hymns loudly. She memorized many hymns and more than 100 chapters of the Bible,which came in handy during the years later when she was imprisoned with no access to a Bible or hymn book . ( For more on this story, read “Faithful women and their extraordinary God” by Noel Piper.)
When it comes to scripture memorization , we give a lot of reasons why we are incapable of doing it. We say it’s too hard , or it’s “reserved ” for the spiritually mature, or we don’t have time, among many other reasons, which is just total baloney. Because truth is, if we become really intentional about it, we’ll do it.
I used to think I just couldn’t memorize anything, until this day when I was proven wrong. We had a leadership conference, and as a norm, when it comes to plenary sessions, the speaker usually doesn’t read the word, but instead calls someone to come recite the portion of scripture that the sermon would come from that day.
In that conference, we were doing a book exposition on Titus. So one person was to recite Titus 1,another Titus 2, and another Titus 3. ( It was a three day conference). Thirty hours to the conference, I was asked if I could do a recitation of Titus 2. And I said yes, not because I had attempted scripture recitation before, but because I thought it was so cool! I had seen people reciting before and found it to be so cool!
So the next 30 hours were spent attending classes, memorizing, sleeping, travelling, and memorizing again. The D day for reciting came, and I can recall clearly the day’s events. We were there seated, when the speaker said, ” I now invite Tabitha to come do scripture recitation of Titus 2″. With my wobbling legs, I made it to the pulpit. And right then, I couldn’t even remember what verse 1 says. Nevertheless, with God’s help, I was able to flawlessly recite the entire the chapter.
I’ve shared this basically for that someone who thinks they can’t really do it, just to show that it is very possible, if one purposes to do it.
Why should we memorize scripture?
1. It is a weapon against the schemes of the devil
Ephesians 6: 17….” Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”. Paul tells us that, in order to stand against the devil’s schemes, we need to arm ourselves with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And Jesus modeled this for us so beautifully. When he was being tempted by Satan in Mathew 4, he responded by saying ” it is written…”. You however can’t quote something you only have rumours about to the devil. He too knows the word well .( Mathew 4:6). Having the word in our hearts will help us in defending ourselves.
2. Knowing God’s word keeps us from sinning.
Psalms 119:11.” I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you “. Knowing God’s word and keeping it in our hearts ,will be our refuge in times of temptation. It will be there to offer us razor sharp conviction when we are confronted with sin.
3. It is a command from God.
Deuteronomy 11:18. “ fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.” God is simply telling us to memorize His word. That way, we can meditate on it at anytime, and get to grow in our knowledge of God.
4. It provides us with guidance and wisdom.
The word of God provides us with guidance and wisdom on basically every matter in our lives. It has all the answers to all our questions, and it’s important we have it in our hearts, as it will come in handy especially when we need to make decisions, or want guidance in certain things.
5.The word of God is a comfort in times of suffering.
Romans 8:28. ” and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Knowing that God works for the good of us in everything, including our suffering is just so comforting. It gives us hope to keep going on , even when it hurts. Such fighter verses just need to be kept deep in our hearts.
6. The word of God reveals to us the truth.
Ephesians 6 :14. “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist,” John 8:32. ” Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. Satan the father of all lies, has blinded the minds of believers, such that we no longer know what is true anymore. But luckily God has given us his word full of truths. And we only need to keep it in our hearts. This will keep us from becoming mislead by lies masquerading like truths.
7. The word of God gives us hope in times of fear.
Isaiah 41: 10. ” so do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” These are the sweetest words everyone wants to hear especially when they are experiencing fear. Knowing that God is with us, is a great relief. And we need to store such words on our hearts, so next time we pass through the valley of shadow of death, we won’t lose hope since we know our God is with us.
We need to embrace scripture memorization. Maybe we won’t need it the way Esther Ahn Kim needed it, like she was in prison with no access to a Bible, but we’ll need it for the reasons I’ve mentioned above. But above all, it will grow us in our knowledge of God.
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