I remember when I first began memorizing Scripture. I became a Christian in the summer of 1972, after my graduation from college. The next year I decided not to blitz the business world with my presence, so I became a ski bum at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. I was a short-order chef at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a maniacal skier the rest of the time. I loved it.

One day I received some information from a Christian campus organization. They enclosed a brochure with a listing of their tools and books used in discipleship and witnessing. I scanned the list and noticed an offering called "Bible Memory Pack." The blurb explained the secret and the necessity of Bible memorization. So, I added it to my already lengthy list of purchases and sent off the list with a check.

Three weeks later I received several books, over a hundred tracts, and my Bible Memory Pack. I tore open the tracts and got ready for the slopes. I put the books on my shelf. But I gave the Bible Memory Pack a glance and then tucked it into my dresser drawer. No need for this at the moment, I thought. I headed off for some ski wizardry.

I gave out the tracts to people I went up the lifts with. I was happy, whistling. But that evening, something was wrong. My mind seemed to whiz off to the sinful unknown. Lustful thoughts, swearing, and all sorts of evil ideas pummeled my brain until I had a roaring headache. I couldn't understand it. In the five months or so that I'd been a Christian, I had cleaned plenty of garbage out of my life. But now it seemed it was all pouring in again in a virtual deluge.

The next day I felt more depressed. I was in my room, praying, when suddenly I said, "What on earth is wrong, Lord? My brain waves have gone berserk."

It was then a thought resounded clearly in my head. Remember that Bible Memory Pack you threw in the back of your drawer? Maybe you'd better get working on it.

I hadn't thought about it for two days. I rushed to my dresser, pulled out the pack, and read through the instructions. In an hour I was working on my first verse. That verse took me a week of determined repetition before it was firmly stitched into my mind. But I was on my way. That pack and, later, other tools were to become a focal point of my spiritual life.

Words to Remember

I know how difficult it is to motivate people to memorize Scripture. Churches feature programs, pastors exhort, and disciplers encourage, but little memory work gets done. Our lives in the nineties have become so helter-skelter that we feel frazzled and dazed, seemingly unable to concentrate on anything deeper than a situation comedy on TV.

I once exhorted my congregation, "If you memorize two verses a week for a year, you'll have over a hundred verses memorized. If you do that for ten years, you'll sock away over a thousand. Now how many of you have been Christians for ten years and know by heart over a thousand verses?"

No hands were raised.

"A thousand verses!" one man said to me. "I'm lucky to remember John 3:16." He tried to recite it and didn't even get that one right.

"Two verses a week?" another lady said. "I've got the wash, a Sunday school class, a house to clean, and you want to pile it on some more? Forget it."

One man confessed to me, "My mind couldn't retain it, Mark. I'm just not that smart."

Some people have told me they would have to have a photographic memory to do such a thing. I've heard every excuse in the book. Yet, memorization of Scripture is one of the most critical elements of spiritual living.

The Shema of Israel, from Deuteronomy 6, was the first scriptural passage a Jew memorized. He repeated it every time he went into his house, into the temple, and into worship. In it God said, "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" (Dt. 6:6–7). God's words were to lodge securely in the heart, never to be excised. A father who placed them in his heart would so overflow with their truth and goodness that he'd be teaching his sons everywhere he went. That was the idea. But few Christians do it.

Again, God spoke to Joshua and warned him, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Josh. 1:8).

Notice what God commanded.

Joshua was to meditate on it day and night. Meditate means to muse, to mull over, to think about it with the mind, to examine it. God's Word was to be a continual and present reality, so much so that it occupied his very thoughts.

Ask yourself, "How much do I think about God's Word and truth during the day?" Joshua was commanded to think about it constantly. There are numerous other verses in Scripture that speak of the need to know God's Word by heart. But maybe you find yourself offering excuses:

I don't have time.

My mind isn't good at memorizing things.

I used to do it and it didn't work well.

I've put in my time; I don't feel I need to anymore.

I already know plenty of verses.

It's too hard.

I serve the Lord in other ways.

Who wants to carry around a little pack of cards?

I always forget to do it.

Ultimately, you have to be motivated by the Spirit and by your own fervent desire to please the Lord. One thing is sure. You can't do it for the wrong reasons, or you'll give up.

Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reason

Why memorize Scripture? I can think of no better reason than that God commands us to do it. And since we want to please Him, we obey. It's as simple as that.

God commands it. Numerous verses throughout the Bible command us to store up His Word in our hearts. Joshua 1:8, Dt. 6:5–8, Ps. 119:11, and Col. 3:16–17 are a start. But the whole Bible is a treatise on the need to know God, His Word, and to obey Him.

Therefore, we'll do it. I used to rebel at the idea of obeying simply because God says so. I used to think there were all sorts of better reasons to obey—namely, out of love for the Lord or a desire to please Him. But when you get down to it, real obedience involves all those things. Moreover, when you obey simply because God says to, you rid yourself of much of the hemming and hawing that goes with so much Christian behavior. If we have to stop and think why God commands what He commands every time we face one of those laws, we become perfect targets for Satan's attacks.

God longs for obedience from His people more than anything else. For through obedience, everything else—the fruit of the Spirit, evangelism, spiritual life, freedom, victory—becomes possible.

By this I don't mean a blind sense of duty performed out of fear of punishment. Rather, what must occur in the heart of a believer is a transformation from obedience out of fear to obedience because He is good, wise, and loving.

The Benefits

What then are the rewards of Bible memory work? Let me offer several.

1. Knowing Scripture by heart enables you to meditate on the Word anywhere, any time. David often spoke of meditating on God "in the night watches" (Ps. 63:6–8). I don't think he pored over a scroll at those moments. I'm certain he replayed in his mind words he'd long ago memorized, perhaps even composed himself.

One man I know likes to meditate on God's Word while shaving. Another does it on his way to work. A woman friend meditates while jogging. They can meditate at those times because the Word is written on their hearts. This is accomplished only through rigorous memorization.

2. It's a key to walking in the Spirit. Two passages of Scripture are linked. The first is Eph. 5:18–21, the passage about being filled with the Spirit. The other is Col. 3:16–17. Interestingly enough, both passages refer to the results of a certain action—"speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs," and "giving thanks for all things." But the preceding actions in each section are different. In Ephesians, it's "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another  . . ." (Eph. 5:18). In Colossians, Paul's dictum is, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Col. 3:16). Do you get the idea that being "filled with the Spirit" and "letting God's Word dwell in you richly" could be closely related?

If that is true, then memorizing God's Word gives the Spirit the power to lead, guide, challenge, and instruct us. Like a maestro at the piano, He is enabled to play upon our spirits and remind us of the truths of God in every situation of the day.

3. The Spirit can apply the Word you have memorized to a particular situation. The key to applying God's Word is learning to apply it according to its meaning and context. If you read the story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness in Mt. 4:1–11, it's awe-inspiring to see Him quote Scripture to the devil. In each situation Jesus chose precisely the words that applied to His need and situation.

I once heard John MacArthur say, "Whenever I think about sinning, the Spirit hits me with six verses against it. I can't just sin anymore and enjoy it. I know too much Scripture." People who sink deep roots in the Word are not blown over by gusts.

4. The Spirit continually gives you insight into God and the truths of Scripture. When you memorize God's Word and know it by heart, you'll find that God speaks to you at the strangest moments. You'll be driving along thinking about nothing important, when suddenly the Spirit strikes. An insight about a verse or truth lodges in your mind. Instantly, there's a sense of joy and discovery that draws you closer to the Lord.

5. The Holy Spirit shows you the unity of a whole book. If you memorize whole books of the Bible you'll find an amazing thing: You'll begin not only to understand the book better, but you'll begin to understand its unity, integrity, and depth. The Holy Spirit will open your mind to Scripture in dramatic, illuminating ways.

6. It enables you to know the triune God intimately. I've often wondered how other people think, what goes on in their minds. But have you ever thought about how God thinks, what goes on in His mind? You needn't speculate. The Bible is His mind revealed. By knowing God's Word, we literally know His own thoughts on every conceivable subject.

As I studied the book of Jonah some time ago, I was amazed at the process of discipline revealed in the book. By the end of it, I saw one thing in graphic detail: God wanted Jonah, more than anything, to understand His heart. He wanted Jonah to see why He loved those people in Nineveh and why He didn't want to destroy them.

As I studied, it really hit me: The Bible is much more than a volume of stories and theology, it's the revelation of God's very heart.

7. You begin to see connections between passages. You become a walking concordance. You can connect all sorts of ideas through relating one verse you've memorized to another, especially if you begin memorizing whole books of Scripture. You become able to correlate truths and concepts, not just words.

8. God gives you the mental capacity for more. One thing I've always worried about in memorizing Scripture was reaching a saturation point. Would my mind reach a point where there was just too much? Would I begin to overflow, unable to retain more?

I've been memorizing for over seventeen years now and there's no stopping point in sight. In fact, my mind has become keener, more logical, more able to assimilate data than ever before. It carries over into everything—my work, my home, my hobbies.

The beauty of Bible memorization is that with commitment, anyone, anywhere can do it. You don't have to be a genius. But it does take discipline. You just have to decide that you'll do it. The question is, will you?

Mark R. Littleton is the author of several books, including Beefin' Up (Multnomah, 1990), Cool Characters with Sweaty Palms (Victor Books, 1989) and Escaping the Time Crunch (Moody, 1990). This article was adapted from his book Delighted by Discipline, (Victor Books, 1991, SP Publications, Inc., Wheaton, IL).