Cultivating a Habit of Scripture Memory
August 8, 2024 | by: Michael Buckley | 0 Comments
Posted in: Guest Writers
In my previous article, I wrote about the necessity for God’s children to actively cultivate an affection for him through scripture meditation and memorization. God gives his children both a command and strong encouragement to ask for his supernatural wisdom (Ja. 1:5) and strength (Is. 41:10) to enable us to both resist sin and delight in him. To accomplish this, God has given us the means of grace to ‘build us up in holiness and comfort’ (as the Westminster Confession puts it) for the glory of Christ. One of these means to which we must apply ourselves is the meditation on and memorization of his word. To this end, let me encourage you, reader, with three practical ways that I have found helpful in making scripture memorization and meditation a part of your lifelong walk with Christ.
Decide today to memorize scripture and record your decision.
This may seem like it goes without saying, but the act of deciding to do a thing is very different from knowing that one should do something, or even of wanting to do something. There’s something special about deciding to do a thing and writing that decision down. First, pray. Pray for wisdom from the Holy Spirit to enable you to increase your affection and delight for scripture. Then—since we are forgetful creatures—record your decision as a reminder to your future self. Handwrite a note card and tape it on your mirror, or set a weekly reminder on your phone (or both). Write “By God’s strength, I will learn to love memorizing scripture” or “I will trust and obey God by meditating on his holy word” or something similar. By all means, be thoughtful in what you write and expect an answer to your prayer (Ja. 1:6) …but keep it as simple as possible, and work quickly.
Start memorizing scripture as soon as possible.
There are dozens of excellent methods and tools both ancient and modern for creating good habits for memorizing scripture, and I’ve used many of them. For the sake of simplicity, here are my very specific, very opinionated suggestions to get you started quickly and to keep you going:
- Use Bible Memory. This is the primary tool that I’ve used daily for many years. It’s a simple mobile and desktop application, and Oak Hills has its own group set up within the application. The King James Version is always free, but we have free Pro licenses which will allow you to access and memorize the ESV translation. Once you create your account, reach out to me and I will gladly give you a license.
- Start memorizing Colossians 3:1-5. Begin by memorizing the first five verses of Colossians, a few at a time, reviewing as prompted. Take the first two weeks to get used to how Bible Memory (and your own memory!) works. Reach out to me if you have problems or questions. Expect a strong start…and then bouts of laziness, frustration and apathy. This is completely natural, but you must learn how to restart fresh, over and over.
- Memorize the rest of Colossians 3. Every other day or so, continue to add a new verse, reviewing as prompted. Colossians 3 has 25 verses, so expect your memorization to take between two and three months. When sloth or circumstances keep you from your work and it begins to pile up, resist the temptation to be discouraged and quit. Pray for God’s help, and catch up as you are able.
Pray regularly that God would increase your affection for him through his word.
While there are sound reasons for each of my suggestions above, I want to make it very clear that my suggestions are merely strategies and tools to achieve the real goal: a greater affection in your heart towards God. The third chapter of Colossians, which tells us the rich truth about our identity in Christ (verses 1-5) and of how we are to live with our brothers and sisters in the faith (verses 6-25) is an excellent passage of scripture to hide and treasure in our heart…yet it is only but one of the “golden apples in a setting of silver” (Prv. 25:11) from which you could choose to start. Likewise, there are many other tools both digital and analog that one might use; I chose a digital app (for the modern convenience of Bible Memory’s review prompts) but Andrew Davis’ version of the time-honored “reading, recitation and repetition” is also an excellent method. None of these methods or tools, however, will necessarily increase your love and affection for the Father, without the merciful intervention of his Spirit, through the empowering life of Christ in which we have our being. This miracle, thank God, remains a matter of earnest prayer, whether you have one verse memorized or a thousand.
I’m unable to overstate—and this side of heaven I suspect I’m not able to truly understand—what a blessing it is to possess God’s word in my memory. Meditating on this word in prayer when I am fearful, tempted and distressed has been a profound comfort, renewed every morning (Lam. 3:23). I am therefore absolutely confident to promise the same for you on God’s behalf. I hope you find these practical suggestions helpful, and I pray that you will learn to delight in God’s word as did David:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night (Ps. 1:1-2).
-Michael Buckley
